152 Mr. C. F. Tyrwliitt Drake on the Birds of Morocco. 



The only other bird I ever saw within the walls, except the 

 common Sparrow, was the beautiful Cm-podacus githagineus, 

 which is so tame that I have often had it fly into my room at 

 the fondak, and fearlessly pick up any stray crumbs from 

 within a few inches of the mattress on which I was lying. I 

 never saw these birds any where else in the country, with the 

 exception of a few at Mogador. 



After a stay of some little time in Morocco I set out for 

 Mogador about the middle of April — at a most unfortunate time, 

 as it afterwards turned out ; for I came in for very bad weather 

 all the way down to the coast, rain and hail with occasionally 

 bitter winds driving down from the Atlas ; so that I was unable 

 to do much in the way of collecting specimens, which was the 

 more to be regretted as the great plain of Morocco was to a 

 naturalist one of the most interesting parts of the country I 

 passed through. It has a very fertile soil, and, being well irri- 

 gated by canals cut from the Tensift, almost anything may be 

 grown there ; for instance, tobacco, sugar-cane, and corn of all 

 sorts flourish abundantly. Some of the Arabs, too, grow a kind 

 of indigo, with which the women dye their clothes. The soil 

 near Morocco is a rich, heavy, red loam, which, after rain, 

 becomes excessively slippery, as I found to my cost ; for the day 

 I left that town a sudden storm came on at midday, the camels 

 began slipping about as if they had been on ice, and one after 

 another fell, which is often dangerous, as they are very apt to 

 split themselves in falling, and so become so disabled as to be 

 useless. Finding it impossible to go either backwards or for- 

 wards, I had to resign myself to fate till the rain stopped and 

 the wind had sufficiently dried the surface to enable the animals 

 to go on. Further from Morocco the ground becomes very 

 stony, and afi'ords good foot-hold for the camels. 



There are many birds to be found here, amongst which I 

 chiefly noticed the Moorish Magpie [Pica mauritanica) as abun- 

 dant. The Great Spotted Cuckoo [Oxylophus glandarius), too^ 

 is very common, as are also the " Koudri " [Pterocles arenarius), 

 the Crateropus fulvus (which last I invariably found on the borders 

 of cultivated land, usually five or six together), the Woodchat- 

 Shrike {Lanius auriculatus) , and, commoner than all, the Turtle- 



