358



Mr. T. H. Newman,



had from the top. A pair of birds flying a good way off looked like

Egyptian Vultures, I think I saw a Black Kite and a pair of dark

looking Birds of Prey were perched on the very top of a rock,

but too far off to be sure what they were. A Black looking Chat

darted across below, I fancy it had a white crown and nape, so

most probably was a Wbite-rumped Chat (, Saxicola leucopyga ) t

which when adult, is a black bird with white crown, nape, rump

and tail-coverts, also the usual white Chat-markings on the tail.


Later in the day I saw a beautiful pale grey cock Pallid

Harrier in almost the same spot where I saw the hen bird three

days before. I came across what appeared to be a colony of quite

typically coloured Spanish Sparrows a little way outside the

town, the cocks had chestnut crowns, black stripes on the sides

of the breast and black and white markings on the wings ; Corn

Buntings were numerous, some little greenish Warblers which

from the amount of yellow, I think were Wood Wrens were busy

hunting for insects among the bushes. The Wryneck is a very

common bird here, the resident North-African bird has been

considered distinct from ours and has been named lynx mauret -

anica and Mr. Meade-Waldo has just called attention to the

difference in the notes of the two races. I caught sight of one

sitting on a Palm frond close to the trunk. Serins were in num¬

bers ; a pair of Algerian Greenfinches in a small Olive tree, then

I saw a fine Woodchat Shrike (Lanins pomeranus) sitting motion¬

less on the branch of a Mimosa tree. Woodchats are very

plentifully distributed throughout the country. I noticed a

couple of dull coloured Wagtails, greenish-grey above, eye-stripe

and entire under-surface including chin dull yellowish. I should

think they were immature birds, so cannot be sure of the species.

Common Redstarts were not uncommon, I saw one cock bird

and heard another. Last time I was here it was Moussier’s

Redstart which was inhabiting the same spots, now this species

appeared absent. On the afternoon of the next day I visited the

Dunes de Sable, a district covered with curious low heaps of

soft sand, but saw nothing of much account as regards birds,

only the usual Swallows, a white Wagtail, a female Harrier was

flying over the Palm trees, I think it was a Pallid Harrier, it

showed very little white on the upper tail-coverts, a Hoopoe ; I

was just too early for the Bee-eaters, a few days later and plenty



