136 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Lanners from different localities, but there appears to be no constant 

 character to justify their separation. Dr. Kleinschmidt has distinguished 

 the Tunisian bird under the name of F. ciiangcri (" Aquila," 1901, p. 33). 



Examples in my collection from Tunisia vary a good deal individually, 

 some being paler and others darker in coloration. In North-east Africa 

 the Lanner also seems to vary considerably, and Mr. J. H. Gurney, 

 alluding to this species in Egypt, writes as follows : " I may refer to the 

 circumstance of my son and a fellow-traveller having shot an adult pair of 

 these Falcons at Esne in that country, which were sitting together on the 

 same tree, and of which the female was a typical pale F. fcldeygi and the 

 male sufficiently dark to merit the title of tanypterus, being very little less 

 intensely coloured than the darker individuals from Abyssinia or Sennaar." 



The Lanner, together with some other species of Falcon, are by some 

 ornithologists referred to the genus Hicio/alco, Cuvier. 



This fine species is a resident in Tunisia, and the commonest of 

 all the large Falcons, particularly in the more southern regions, 

 although it is by no means rare in the northern districts of the 

 Regency. I have in fact numerous examples of it obtained in the 

 neighbourhood of the town of Tunis and other parts of the north, 

 and Blanc informs me that the native Arab sportsmen constantly 

 bring him freshly-killed specimens. 



The true home, however, of this species in North-west Africa 

 appears to be the southern slopes of the Atlas, and the semi-desert 

 country stretching away to the south of those mountains, where stony 

 plains, bounded by arid cliffs, succeed each other in terraces, gradually 

 dropping down to the level of the Sahara. Here the Lanner may 

 constantly be met with, and is one of the few birds which throughout 

 the entire year enliven those desert wastes with their presence. 



Dr. Koenig found this species breeding on the Djebel Batteria in 

 North Tunis (J. f. 0. 1892, p. 341), and Baron v. Erlanger repeatedly 

 met with it in Central and Southern Tunisia, taking several nests 

 with eggs (J. f. 0. 1898, p. 455). 



In Algeria and Marocco the Lanner appears to be as abundant 

 as it is in Tunisia. Although I have no specimens from Tripoli 

 and Cyrenaica, the species no doubt also occurs in those countries, 

 as it is plentiful in North-east Africa. It may, indeed, be said to 

 occur throughout the whole of North Africa, from east to west, and 

 is probably the commonest of all the large Falcons in this region. 



North of the Mediterranean the Lanner occurs more or less 



