1 92 1.] of Tunisia and Algeria. ' 393 



Certainly more than one species of Lark and Pipit were 

 seen, but who would dare to name a Pipit from a passing 

 car ! The return journey to Tunis added no fresh species to 

 my list, save a couple of Ravens flying high overhead. The 

 Moroccan Raven (Corviis corax tingitanus) is an extremely 

 abundant resident in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Once 

 more v^e disturbed the Liltle Owls, which had returned to 

 the same olive-tree from which we had already frightened 

 them, and by 5 P.M. we were again in busy Tunis. 



Two days after returning from Dougga I made, in company 

 with the Editor of ' The Ibis,' a delightful trip by car to the 

 Arab city of Kairouan, thence journeying south to El Djem, 

 the most southern point we reached, and thence again to Tunis 

 via Susa, an insignificant port on the coast. 



Though birds were not the prime object of our journey, 

 the expedition afforded us an opportunity of seeing for the 

 first time (at any rate as far as the writer was concerned) a 

 number of interesting species, and we obtained a good first- 

 hand knowledge of the varied types of country through 

 which we passed. Whitaker, in the Introduction to his 

 ' Birds of Tunisia,' notes that " Tunisia has been divided by 

 geographers into three natural divisions or regions, each of 

 these differing from the other two in its climate, hydrography, 

 and topography, and consequently in its flora and fauna." 

 In the excellent map provided in his book these three regions 

 are differently coloured, and the divisions can thus be seen 

 at a glance. Whereas Tunis itself lies at the north-east of 

 the northern division, the towns we set out to visit are all 

 situated in the central division, that which lies between the 

 Atlas Mountains and the southern region of the Chotts and 

 deserts. 



It was not until we had passed through the broken chain 

 ol mountains, which run in a north-easterly direction from 

 El Oubira to Hammamet, and had gained the great plains 

 which stretch almost uninterruptedly to Kairouan, that we 

 noticed the change in the avifauna. North of the mountains 

 we had seen only the usual species which frequent the more 

 fertile parts of the Regency, such as Goldfinches, Brown 



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