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More Notes from NotIh- West Africa.



bills pointing upwards, vigorously clap their mandibles together,

this noise can be heard quite a long distance off, I often heard it

when the birds themselves were out of sight. Just outside the

Gorge, which runs round the greater part of the town, I saw an

Egyptian Vulture ( Neophron percnopterus ) on the wing, and in the

Gorge itself six more, four sitting together on a ledge of rock ; I

believe they nest here as one was seen a few days earlier carrying

a stick just outside. Jackdaws were here in numbers, a peculiar

interest is attached to these birds, for many of them, apparently

about two-thirds of the entire number, are of a very distinct

brown shade, especially on the wings and tail, some were quite a

rich chocolate colour, matching exactly the dark-brown soil on

which they were walking. I thought these brown birds seemed

rather smaller than the others, they certainly had very little grey

on the back of the head, but at this early date I do not think they

could have been young birds ; I find these brown birds have been

noticed by several people who have lately visited this ravine.

Kestrels were, as usual, very numerous here, they are mostly

Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumannt), but I made out several of the

common species ( F . tinnunculus') quite clearly. I11 a small tree,

at the end of the Gorge, several small Warblers were very busy ;

from their greyish upper surface, yellowish rump and whitish

under parts I took them for Bonelli’s Warblers ( Phylloscopus

bonelli).


Next morning I took a lovely walk in the neighbourhood of

the town. The Sparrows seemed mostly to be typical domesticus ,

but one was rather chestnut 011 the crown, and had some black

spreading slightly along the sides of the breast, so seemed to

approach hispaniolensis. On some rough steep ground were flocks

of Goldfinches and many Corn Buntings ; by a bridge over the

river Rumel were a number of Swallows, they looked like young

birds as they had not much chestnut on the head and had rather

short tails ; with them was one House Martin and I think a Sand

Martin, but I could not see this bird quite plainly, so it may have

been a Rock Martin. A number of little greenish Warblers were

hopping about the bushes by the side of the water, frequently

darting over the surface to catch flies—they seemed to be Willow

Wrens. A little later I saw a pair, the cock of which had a very



