162 Mr. E. G. B. Meade- Waldo— ^ Trip 



Bustard (presumably Eupodotis arabs*) that is common 

 throughout its extent. 



Before I proceed further, however, some description of 

 the kind of ground that we traversed may be of interest, as 

 no European, I believe, has ever visited the district before 

 (at least not of his own free will), and it appears to be the 

 only large tract of woodland still left in Northern Morocco. 



The Forest of Marmora lies between the Rivers Seboo 

 mid Bau-reg-reg, and is in H'mar: it is bounded on the 

 east by the Zemmoor, on the south-east by the Zair, both 

 these tribes being rebels against the Sultan's rule, and not 

 acknowledging the Sultan's or, indeed, any law. In their 

 own country they are, almost to a man, robbers and brigands. 

 The wooded district is of considerable extent : it is about 

 twenty-five miles in width where it comes nearest to the sea, 

 from which it is only some dozen miles distant. Our host 

 told us that it took about two days to get through it going 

 eastward, and also that it widened out considerably. Our 

 headquarters were at a tent-village called Ensiir, Kabila 

 Amar, on the edge of the forest. The country is low and 

 undulating, not, I should say, more than from 200 to 400 

 feet above sea-level. The timber is continuous, closely dotted 

 about in some parts and forming thickets in others. There 

 are some small open spaces where there have evidently been 

 conflagrations, for numbers of the trees shewed signs of fire. 

 There are a few marshy tracts, but most of the ground that 1 

 went over was very dry. I saw no really fine timber anywhere, 

 but mv host told me that in some places further in there were 

 some very fine cork-trees. The timber consisted principally 

 of the cork-oak (Quercus suber), the belloot oak (Quercus 

 bellooti), and a kind of wild pear-tree ; the more open parts 

 were covered with a dense growth of brooms of various 

 * [There can be little doubt, we think, that the large Bustard of the 

 Marmora Forest is Eupodotis arabs. Mr. Drake obtained a specimen of 

 this species at Dar-el-baida, on the west coast of Morocco (' Ibis,' 1867, 

 p. 429), and there is an example of it in the British Museum from 

 Moo-ador (Capt. Taylor). See also Irby's 'Ornithology of the Straits of 

 Gibraltar,' p. 260 (1895).— Edd.j 



