Rev. H. B. Tristram^s Notes from Eastern Algeria. 361 



Alauda minuta and Dicrurus malaharicus, which ought to stand 

 A. ccplivox and D. macrocercus. 



I cannot believe in the existence of a Parrot in Formosa. 

 None occur in China, unless in the provinces of Se-tchuen and 

 Quangsi. Indeed, the island of Hainan, which produces a Gra- 

 cula, most probably identical with the Javanese species, is not 

 known to contain a Parrot. The Vulture too, which has been 

 said to be from Canton, must have been brought there from the 

 extreme south somewhere. Certainly in the neighbourhood of 

 that city none occur*. 



XLVI. — A few Leaves from a Naturalist's Note-book in Eastern 

 Algeria. By the Rev. H. B. Tristram, M.A., F.L.S., Corr. 



^^'^'^' (Plate XI.) 



An oologist is the last man in the world who should complain of 

 ' being used up ' in country quarters, and that in the month of 

 April; yet a sensation actually akin to ennui had begun to creep 

 over us, for a naturalist's appetite is insatiable. We were do- 

 miciled at the little French outpost of Souk Harras, the ancient 

 Thagastum, nestled in the valley of the Medjerdah, the classic 

 Bagradas. The southern spurs of the Atlas rose, tier beyond 

 tier, some densely wooded, some bare and scarped, on all sides 

 of us, — those affording home and protection to the Imperial 

 Eagle, these to the Lammergeyer, the Griffon, and the Falcon. 

 What though our little auberge might be open and comfortless, 

 and its fare of the scantiest, its roof was as watertight as our 

 tent ; there was no watch to be kept at night against lions and 

 Tunisian robbers ; and were we not entertained at the sign of 

 St. Augustine de Thagaste, perhaps on the very spot where the 

 great saint of Africa first saw the light ? 



We had exjilored the antiquities, we had examined the ex- 

 humed marble sarcophagi which fill the little barrack square, 

 and had deciphered the inscriptions which tell the story of the 

 long-lost Thagastum ; we had dined with the intelligent though 



* The most Eastern locality for a Vulture which we yet know of /or 

 certain is Siam, whence M. Mouhot has forwarded Gyps indicus. There 

 are specimens of a Parrot in the British Museum {Loriculus puniculus) 

 labelled as having been obtained in China by Mr. Fortune. — Eu. 



2 c2 



