138 Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain on the 



15. Fringilla ccelebs africana Lev. Algerian Cliaffinch. 

 Not uncommon near Pliilippeville and on the wooded 



hillsides of the Aures, but apparently breeds rather late (J). 

 Common near Ain Mokra : nest on May 5 with three eggs 

 (R). General at El Kantara in February : nest and eggs in 

 palm-tree at El Kantara, April 1910 : also breeding m olives 

 at Hammam Meskoutine ou April 20, 1912, and in cork- 

 oak at Philippeville on April 26 (W). 



16. Petronia petronia barbara Erl, North- African Rock- 

 Sparrow. 



Breeds among the stonework of the Roman ruins at 

 Lambese ; in holes of bridges at El Kantara, and in crevices 

 and hollows in friable sandstone or high mud-cliffs near 

 El Outaia. Generally found nesting in colonies. Fresh 

 eggs taken on April 19 (J). Nest in a hole of a clay scarp 

 with one egg, on April 14, 1912, at El Kantara (W). 



17-18. Passer domesticus tingitanus Loche and P. hispanio- 

 lensis hispaniolensis (Temm.). House-Sparrow and Spanish 

 Sparrow. 



For fuller information as to the interbreeding of these 

 two species in Algeria, we must refer our readers to the 

 interesting observations of Messrs. Rothschild and Ilartert, 

 published in * Novitates Zoologicse,' xviii. pp. 479-482. At 

 El Outaia P. hispaniolensis was the prevalent form, and a 

 male caught at Ain Dahlia was apparently a pure bred 

 specimen of this species. These birds were breeding in the 

 houses, as P. domesticus does with us. In the zizyphus bushes 

 on the edge of the desert at Bordj Saada were hundreds of 

 old Sparrows' nests, from which in many cases young had 

 evidently been hatched off, but on April 27 there was not a 

 single bird in the neighbourhood. In north Algeria the 

 groves of eucalyptus near the stations are frequently 

 occupied by colonies of Sparrows (J). The eucalyptus 

 woods at Ain Mokra swarm with Sparrows, which appear 

 to be P. hispaniolensis. One Stork's nest must have held 

 twenty nests. Incubated eggs on May 5 (R). 



