1 92 1.] of Tunisia and Algeria. 405 



certainly had no tail to speak of, and had very rounded 

 wings, dark upper parts, not a particularly lono bill, and the 

 legs were not visible. It seemed quite dazed by tlie sun, 

 anil with slow almost butterfly-like flight dropped into the 

 bush again some 20 feet from me, whence I failed to dis- 

 lodge it. It was not an Owl as has been suggested. It 

 might have been a short-legged Rail, but what a curious 

 place in which to find one ! In size it reminded me of a 

 young Partridge on the 1st of September. 



Quite a number of birds recorded by other ornithologists 

 were not seen by me at Hammam-Meskoutine, as, for in- 

 stance, the Hawfinch {Coccothraustes coecothraustes buvryi), 

 ' noted by Hartert, and met with by Mr. Wallis abundantly 

 in March and April 1911, the Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriohis 

 oriolus), recorded by Wallis on 1st March, and Hartert on 

 20th May, the Serin (Serinus canarius serinus), recorded by 

 Wallis on 21st April, and by Hartert in February, the Siskin 

 (Carduelis spimcs), seen by Hartert in February 1911. The 

 ('Onnnon Chaffinch [Fringilla coelehs coelehs) was seen in this 

 district by Hartert, as well as F. c. africana, but all those 

 observed by me belonged to the latter North African race. 

 The African Ilock-Bunting {Emberiza cia africana), recorded 

 by Wallis in April, was absent, and a long list of other species 

 including a number of birds of passage, all of which will be 

 be found enumerated in the two papers cited. No true 

 migrants were observed, Swifts, Swallows, and Martins were 

 conspicuously absent, and members of the Warbler family 

 were remarkablv scarce. The great rush to Europe had not 

 yet commenced. 



Hammam-Meskoutine is indeed a splendid centre from 

 which to gain a first-hand knowledge of the birds of the 

 more mountainous parts of northern Africa. We left this 

 interesting district on the2Gth of February, making our way 

 west to Constanline, a town about wdiich much has ah-eady 

 been written. The line passes close to the rugged Ujebel 

 Taya, famous as the habitat of the North African Bearded 

 Vulture {GypaetKS harhatus harhatas). Constantine enjovsa 

 unique position on a hill surrounded on three sides by the 



