Ornithology of Northern Africa. 293 



the plumage of the sexes which I am not aware of having seen 

 remarked, viz. that the white on the inner webs of the first ten 

 primaries of the wings extends much further in the male than in 

 the female. 



22. Sturnus VULGARIS. (Starling.) " Zer^'owr/' Arab. 

 Vast flocks of the Starling resort to the Date-forests in winter, 



and do incalculable damage to the ripe fruit. They are snai-ed 

 and destroyed by thousands, being prized for food; yet there 

 seems no appreciable diminution of their numbers, till the Date- 

 crop is gathered and spring commences, when not a straggler 

 remains in Africa. They are accompanied occasionally by a few 

 individuals of 



23. Sturnus unicolor. (Black Starling), which, unlike the 

 other, is a resident in Algeria, breeding in solitary and retired 

 spots, in holes either of trees or rocks. 



24. Passer salicarius. (Spanish Sparrow.) " Zuouch" 

 Arab. 



xlbundant in vast flocks wherever there is moisture, and espe- 

 cially among the reeds in the salt marshes. At Waregla and 

 Tuggurt, where the salt lakes are never dry, the noise of these 

 birds is perfectly deafening, and a hundred may be, and, I am 

 told, have been, brought down at a shot. Its habits are certainly 

 very different from those of its familiar congener here, though in 

 boldness and activity it rivals him. I am not acquainted with 

 the bird in Spain ; but in Africa, as a general rule, it does not 

 aff'ect the habitations of men, and always breeds near water in 

 vast colonies of many thousands. 



25. Passer itali^e. (Cisalpine Sparrow.) 



Though having the same chestnut head as the preceding, this 

 bird is easily distinguishable by the absence of the brigh t black 

 streaks on the flanks so conspicuous in the other. Yet, though, 

 in a series of the two, it is often difficult to draw the line, in 

 its habits this Sparrow agrees exactly with our own, inhabiting 

 the roofs of houses and the rafters of sheds in preference to 

 the more distant groves and gardens. I never found it in great 

 communities at a distance from buildings ; but wherever man 



VOL. I. X 



