Ornithology of Nur them Africa. 435 



94. CucuLUS, sp. ? 



I once chased for nearly an hour a very small Cuckoo, not 

 far from Tuggurt, of a uniform sand-eolour, with the long tail 

 characteristic of the genus. Though several times very near it, 

 I did not succeed in obtaining it ; but some months afterwards 

 I saw a skin of the same, or a most closely- allied species, in the 

 possession of M. Henon of Batna, the only other specimen I 

 ever met with. I cannot refer the bird to any of those in the 

 catalogue of Heuglin (his Cuculus nificollis I do not know) ; and 

 so convinced was M. Henon that his specimen was unique, that 

 he was unwaliing to allow me to measure or describe it. In 

 repose the bird at a distance is not unlike Crateropus fulvuSy 

 but is a little smaller. I met with it on a vast level chott or hard 

 sand-plain, far away from any cover. 



95. Merops apiaster. (Bee-eater.) " Leemoon " or " Mey- 

 moona," Arab. 



A few stragglers occurred in November. 



96. Upupa epops. (Hoopoe.) " Thibeeb," Arab. 



Great numbers of Hoopoes resort to the M'zab cities and those 

 of the other oases during the winter, where they are assiduous in 

 searching the dunghills, and strut about all the court-yards and 

 among the tents with the familiarity of barn-door fowls. They 

 are held in much reverence by the natives for their medicinal and 

 magical virtues, and are never molested. It is no praise to our 

 superior civilization to reflect that the Hoopoe might be one of 

 our regular English summer visitants but for the reckless selfish- 

 ness of every fool who can handle a gun, and out of mere wan- 

 tonness must needs destroy, on its first arrival, one of the most 

 beautiful and certainly the most graceful of the feathered in- 

 habitants of Europe. A few pairs remain in the weds to breed, 

 but the greater proportion leave the Sahara in summer. 



97. Cypselus melba. (White-bellied Swift.) 



98. Cypselus apus. (Common Swift.) 



Both these birds resort to the cliffs and the mosque-towers for 

 nidification, but^ unlike the Swallow and Martin, retire alto- 

 gether in winter to still more southern regions. The Common 

 Swift had not left EI Aghouat during the first week of November. 



[To be cuntinucJ.] 



2h 2 



