288 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



bright moon. The note it utters is loud and wailing, and not unlike 

 that of the Curlew. 



The species is usually to be found in pairs, and is only met with 

 in flocks when on migration. It is shy and wary, and runs swiftly, 

 but its flight is rather slow and heavy. It feeds on insects, worms 

 and snails, and is also known to eat small mammals and reptiles. 

 The bird makes no nest, but deposits its eggs, generally two in 

 number, in a hollow on the ground. The colour of the eggs is 

 light-buff, richly marked with greyish underlying spots, and blackish- 

 brown surface-blotches. The average measurements are 50 X 35 mm. 



(EDICNEMUS (EDICNEMUS SAHARiE (Reichenow). 

 DESERT STONE-CURLEW. 



(Edicnemus oedicnemus saharse, Beichenow, J. f. 0. 1894, p. 101. 

 QBdicnemus crepitans saharse, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1896, p. 173 ; Erlanger, 

 J.f. 0. 1900, p. 52. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from El Madjen-bel-Abbes, Central 

 Tunisia. 



Differs from CE. adicnemus in its paler and more rufescent coloration. 

 Adult female resembles the male. 



The Stone-Curlew resident in the more desert districts south of 

 the Atlas, is somewhat paler and more rufescent in colour than that 

 met with in Northern and North-central Tunisia, and has been 

 distinguished by Professor Reichenow under the name of (E. oedicnemus 

 Sahara (J. f. 0. 1894, p. 101). As in the case of the pale Barbary 

 Partridge, the difference between the present form and what may 

 be regarded as typically coloured examples of the Stone-Ciulew, 

 is slight, and apparently variable, though perhaps just sufliciently 

 marked to call for subspecific separation. 



It is, however, more out of deference to the opinion of so good 

 an ornithologist as Professor Reichenow that I admit the distinction 

 of these two desert forms, as I should hardly have ventured to 

 separate them on my own responsibility. The present form appears 

 to occur in the Algerian Sahara and in Marocco, from the latter 

 of which countries I have an example of it, although from the north 



