296 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the 



continues his warbling from sunrise till nearly noon. His voice, 

 though not so strong, is quite as varied and mellow as that of 

 our own common Linnet, to which it bears considerable resem- 

 blance in tones. Our habitation was merely an open shed on 

 one side of a courtyard, and frequently these Buntings would 

 perch on the opposite side during meals, and at length the 

 boldest of them summon courage to hop across the court and 

 pick up fragments of " couscous " at our feet. It builds both 

 in holes in walls about houses and gardens, and also in rocks. 

 I have found the nest in process of being built, in El Kantara, 

 in April, though I never succeeded in obtaining the eggs. 



31. MoNTicoLA CYANEA. (Blue Rock-Thrush.) " Tuttow 

 Khifan" i. e. Rock-Thrush, Arab. 



Few spots where there is any vegetation are without a pair 

 of these shy and wary birds, who may be detected dropping like 

 a Wheatear behind a rock in a ravine, or perched on the mud 

 wall of a palm grove, the male occasionally rising and hovering 

 like a lark at some height during his song, which is, however, 

 more frequently chanted from the top of an isolated rock. It 

 occasionally perches on bushes, and, as a songster, possesses 

 organs of voice of not less power, compass, and variety than our 

 own Song-Thrush. 



32. MoNTicoLA SAXATiLis. (Commou Rock-Thrush.) 

 Decidedly a scarcer bird in the Sahara than the former, more 



shy and wary, and resorting only to the higher grounds. In 

 the upper portions of the Atlas it is moi*e plentiful ; but I have 

 only seen it three or four times in the Desert, and then only on 

 such elevated situations as the summits of the Chebkha M'zab. 



33. Dromol^a LEucuRA. (Black Wheatear.) "BouHaoud," 

 Arab. 



The Chats are the tribe of all others most universally distri- 

 buted in the Desert, yet having specifically very narrow limits. 

 They are, too, the only class of birds there who have any distinc- 

 tive or conspicuous coloui'ing. The Larks of various species or 

 the Sand-grouse may be on all sides, yet only a practised eye 

 can detect a sign of life in the waste. But the lively Chat is 



