Birds from Algeria. 197 



As I have already pointed out (loc. cit.), all the Tawny Owls 

 from Morocco and Algeria which T have examined are re- 

 markable for their dark coloration and for their constancy 

 in this respect. 



It is an interesting fact that in this region the Tawny Owl 

 should he subject to so little individual variation, whereas in 

 other regions, as is well known, it is notable for its tendency 

 to vary individually. 



It may be found that the dark coloration of the North- 

 African bird is approached by a few isolated examples from 

 elsewhere, but the constancy of the coloration in S. a.mauri- 

 tanicum is a sufficiently striking and important feature, in 

 my opinion, to warrant its separation as a geographical race. 

 I had not the good fortune to shoot a specimen of the 

 Tawny Owl in Algeria and I only once heard the bird at 

 H. R/TIira. Mr. Meade-Waldo, who is familiar with it 

 in Morocco, considers its note and habits very different 

 from those of the European Tawny Owl. He tells me that 

 in Morocco these birds nest, like Barn-Owls, in buildings, and 

 not in trees as they generally do in Europe, and that they 

 breed late, generally in May. 



NlSAETUS PENNATUS (Gm.). 



^ ad. II. R'llira, April 19. 



The Booted Eagle was a fairly common breeding-bird in 

 the fir-forest at H. R'llira and rather less common in the 

 cedar-forest at Les Glacieres. I shot this male at a new but 

 empty nest in a pine-tree. The female never seemed to 

 leave the vicinity. Two days after I had killed, the male, she 

 had procured another mate. On April 23 (four days after 

 the male was shot) an egg was laid, and one of the Eagles 

 was brooding it while the other was sitting in a tree hard by. 



ClRCAETUS GALLICUS (Gm.). 



c? ad. H. R'Hira, April 27. 



There were a good many Serpent-Eagles in the pine-forest 

 at H. R'Hira. I put a bird off a large nest containing one 

 egg in a pine-tree. Concealing myself near I could see 

 both parents circling high overhead for a considerable time, 

 then one gradually descended aud. pitched in a tree close by. 



SER. VIII. — VOL. V. P 



