60 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Above bluish-slate; quills brown, barred with white on the inner webs ; tail 

 blackish-slate, tipped with white, and with small white spots on each side 

 of the shafts of the feathers ; throat and upper breast pale French-grey ; rest 

 of the underparts white, barred with blackish-brown. 



Iris and ej'elids bright golden-yellow ; bill blackish above and greenish 

 below, and yellowish at the base of the lower mandible ; feet orange-yellow ; 

 claws light brown. 



Total length 12-75 inches, wing 8-25, culmen -75, tarsus -85. 



Adult female, spring, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Eesembles the male, but with a brownish tinge on the breast, and buff 

 on the rest of the underparts ; some of the tail-feathers more spotted. 



Total length 12 inches, wing 7-70, culmen -70, tarsus -80. 



Young, spring, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Above rufous, barred with blackish-brown ; tail rufous, barred with 

 blackish, and spotted and tipped with white ; throat and upper breast buff, 

 barred with brown; rest of underparts cream, barred with dark brown. 

 Very young birds have a small white patch on the back of the crown, and 

 are much darker in colour generally, most of the feathers being fringed with 

 white. 



The earliest date on which I have heard the Cuckoo in Tunisia is 

 March '28th, but the species no doubt arrives in the Regency somewhat 

 before that date, and Blanc informs me that he has found it at Tata- 

 houine on the 20th of that mouth. Although nowhere abundant, 

 it is to be met with generally throughout the wooded country of the 

 Regency, and breeds in the more mountainous districts north of the 

 Atlas. I have immature specimens of the bird obtained during the 

 summer months, and Mr. Apliu found the species in full song in the 

 early part of June in the woods near Ghardimaou. Towards the 

 end of summer most of the Cuckoos depart, but a certain number 

 may be met with throughout the autumn months, and according to 

 Blanc, an occasional straggler occurs in the south of the Regency 

 even in winter. He further states that he heard unc calling in the 

 Gabes oasis, in December, 1894. 



In Algeria and Marocco the species is not uncommon. In Madeira 

 and the Canary Islands it apparently occurs also, but very irregularly, 

 although at times abundantly. Mr. Meade-Waldo mentions it as 

 being particularly numerous on Tenerife in the spring of 1890, when 

 that island was visited by an unusually large number of migrants of 

 all sorts {Ibis, 1890, p. 429.) 



I have met with the Cuckoo in the semi-desert country of 



