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More Notes from North- West Africa.



( Turtur senegalensis). In the afternoon on the way to Sidi Okba,

I passed a good many Larks, among them I think the Rufous¬

headed Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla itala ) and the

Pale Long-billed Crested Lark (Galerita ctistata arenicolci ). The

birds seemed to resemble closely the plate of this form in Mr.

Whitaker’s “ Birds of Tunisia ; ” some of his finest specimens

were procured from this neighbourhood. About a dozen Senegal

Doves were feeding in the road, just outside the village, and a

couple of Scarabseus Beetles were trying to roll their ball up a

little incline.


Next morning I walked to some Palm Gardens near the

town where I saw a fine cock Redstart (Ruticilla Phoenicians), a

party of four or five Hoopoes (Upifa epops) were feeding on the

ground, these birds were always fascinating to watch, they look

pretty as they flit on banded wings among the trees, the crest is

generally raised, when they alight otherwise it is usually de¬

pressed. There were, of course, other birds which I have already

mentioned. I noticed a couple of cock Wheatears (Saxicola

cenanthe) on the open plain, where there were many Desert Larks.


On some rocks I was very pleased to see a beautiful cock

Cream and Black Chat: in his book, Mr. Whitaker describes

four forms of these Cream and Black Chats, two Black-eared and

two Black-throated, an Eastern and Western form of each, but

Dr. Hartert has recently pointed out in Nov. Zool. XVII. p. 479

(1910) that there are really only two forms, an Eastern and

Western, each of which may, or may not, have the black throat.

The Western form is the most abundant in North-West Africa;

acording to Dr. Hartert, the proper name for this bird is Saxicola

hispanica hispanica. I believe the bird I saw belonged to this

race, general colour a beautiful creamy buff, darker on the back

than below, wings black, tail white with central feathers and a

terminal band on the rest black, lores and ear-coverts black ;

this particular bird seemed to have the chin black but this did

not extend very far down the throat, I watched him for some

time as he flew from stone to stone, every now and then uttering

a pleasing little song. O11 my way back I got a good view of a

Black Kite (Milvus migi'ans).


On the day after I drove to the Col de Sfa, a low rocky hill

a few miles from Biskra, a lovely view for many miles round can be



