PHCENICOPTERUS ROSEUS 187 



Though far less mimerous on El-Bahira, or the Lake of Tunis, at 

 the present day than it used to be in years gone by, previous to the 

 construction of the canal connecting Goletta with the town of Tunis, 

 this beautiful bird is still one of the first species to greet the sight of 

 the newly arrived traveller in the Regency, and may still be found 

 there in certain numbers during the winter months. Formerly, 

 when one disembarked at Goletta, and thence travelled by rail to 

 the town of Tunis, skirting the northern border of the lake, it was 

 no uncommon sight to see several large flocks of Flamingoes, each 

 numbering many hundred individuals, dotted over the water, and 

 standing in serried ranks in the shallows on either side of the lagoon, 

 but the increased traffic brought by the opening of the canal has 

 altered this interesting state of things, and the flocks are fewer and 

 smaller than they used to be. A certain number of Flamingoes, 

 however, still visit the Tunis Lake, and the Sebka es-Sedjoumi, a 

 smaller lagoon on the south-west of the town, which although not 

 nearly so important as ElBahira, is of a fair size during the winter 

 and early spring, particularly should rain have been copious. Later 

 on, during the summer months, this smaller lake, which is very 

 shallow, holds but little water, and is in great part dry, or little more 

 than a salt marsh, with the glistening encrustation found on all the 

 Sebkas. It is somewhat curious that Flamingoes, though so plentiful 

 on the Tunis lakes, should only occasionally, and in limited numbers, 

 visit the fine lake of Bizerta, further north, which, together with the 

 adjoining marshes surrounding the Djebel Eshkul, are the favourite 

 haunts of myriads of wild-fowl during the greater part of the year. 

 They are, however, to be found in certain localities along the East 

 coast of the Eegency, and I have seen fairly large flocks on the 

 sea-shore between Hammamet and Sousa. In the interior and in the 

 south of the Regency, Flamingoes are to be seen more rarely and 

 chiefly passing overhead on migration. In the Department or 

 Province of Constantine, however, the species may be found in winter 

 on the small inland lakes or marshes of Tiusilt and Mzouri, near the 

 railway line running between El Guerrah and Batna. These lakes, 

 or more properly Sebkas, are not fed by any river, but are formed 

 merely by the winter rains, and in summer are dry, or nearly so. 

 The water they hold is brackish, owing to the large proportion of 

 salt contained in the subsoil. In Algeria generally the Flamingo 

 appears to be met with on all the larger lakes or Sebkas, but, as in 



