Birds of the Province of Constantine. 551 



We arrived at Philippeville, via Marseilles, on ilie 28tli 

 of April, and thence took train to Constantine. Our 

 route from Philippeville was partly through charming 

 country thick with semitropical verdure, and partly through 

 a desolate hilly region. Near Constantine we made our first 

 acquaintance with the Griffon Vulture, and watched from 

 the train a pair of these birds that came within gunshot. 

 A little further on, the White Storks were wandering about 

 the pastures, or perched, sentinel-like, by the side of little 

 pools, looking out for frogs. High in air were also one or 

 two Egyptian Vultures wheeling leisurely round in circles, 

 and a Falcon, probably a Barbary, left its eyrie, far above us 

 in the rocks, as the train dashed past. Constantine, from its 

 peculiar commanding situation on the summit of a large rock, 

 has from earliest times been chosen as a fortress and a fitting 

 capital for a country subject to incessant warfare and revo- 

 lutions. It stands on the summit of rocky precipices, whose 

 sides in places rise just uj)on a thousand feet from the bed of 

 the river Roumel below. This deep ravine is spanned by the 

 bridge of El Kantara. Seen from a distance Constantine 

 looks at its best ; for a closer inspection will not bear out the 

 expectations of the traveller. We found the valley below 

 Constantine to the west a very interesting place, teeming 

 with birds, although rather poor in species. Among the 

 most interesting of these were the White-bellied Swift, which 

 breeds in the rocks round the town, and a large Raptorial 

 bii'ji which Mr. Elwes took to be the Booted Eagle. 



From Constantine we went by rail to El Guerrah, and 

 thence by diligence to Batna. From Constantine to Batna 

 the road ran at first through a rich valley, with occasional 

 vegetation and groups of bare rocky hills, rising about 

 1500 feet above the plain, which is itself some 2300 feet 

 above sea-level. Here and there a Vulture could be seen; 

 and a Black Kite would now and then hover gracefully above 

 us ; and once a Kestrel flitted leisurely past us. On the way 

 we saw a Hobby, and as we approached Batna one or two 

 pairs of Black Chats {Saxicola leucura). Some forty miles 

 from Constantine we passed the two large salt lakes of Tinsilt 



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