594 Mr. J. I. S. Wliitaker on 



fortress with solid stone battlements, very unlike the more 

 modern Moorish structures. 



Further progress south being absolutely prohibited by the 

 local authorities, owing to the disturbed state of the country,. 

 Mr. Dodson left Glaoui on the 28th May, returning 

 to Iminzet, and tlien travelling in a westerly direction, via 

 Tameshlot, Prouga, Tehaset, and Ogadel, finally reached 

 Mogador on the coast on the 8th June. Going south- 

 wards, Mr. Dodson visited Ecru, and llas-el-Ain in the Halia 

 country, remaining at the latter place till the beginning 

 of July, when he returned to Mogador, and took ship to 

 England. 



The greater part of the country visited by Mr. Dodson in 

 Marocco was under cereal cultivation, and the absence of 

 trees seems to have been remarkable, the only well- wooded 

 spots met with being in the Atlas Mountains. These, how- 

 ever, were few and far between, most of the hills being of 

 the bleakest description, and some of the higher ranges 

 particularly ban*en and desolate. In the Haha district 

 forests of the Argand-tree {Argania nderoxyhn) occur, but 

 these do not seem to have great attractions for birds, although 

 they have for the Ground-Squirrel, which apparently feeds 

 largely on the fruit of these trees. 



The vast stony plains and semi-desert country common to 

 the Algerian and Tunisian Sahara do not seem to occur in 

 the districts in Marocco visited by Mr. Dodson, and this will 

 no doubt account for the total absence from his collection of 

 some of the strictly desert forms, as well also for the paucity 

 of many other desert-frequenting species. 



I annex a systematic list of the different species of birds 

 of which specimens were obtained, amounting in all to 134 

 species and subspecies, among which 5 are new to science. 

 These novelties, as indeed most of the rarer species enume;- 

 rated in the list, seem to have been met with in the Atlas 

 district, and it is a pity that more time could not have been 

 devoted to colleeting there, and, moreover, that the disturbed 

 state of the country prevented further exploration south- 

 wards. It is also to be regretted that, owing to Mr. Dodson 



