viii. Iiitrodncfioii 



naturally been more visited by ornithologists and naturalists generally 

 than Tunisia, and its Avifauna has been treated of by Malherbe, 

 Loche, Taczanowski, Salvin, Canon Tristram, Mr. J. H. Guruey 

 and others, as also more recently by Dr. Koenig. 



Marocco, owing to its unfortunate state of almost perpetual 

 internecine strife and tribal warfare, with the consequent absolute 

 absence of public security for travellers, has been the least explored 

 of the three North-west African countries, but some valuable infor- 

 mation regarding the Ornis of Tangier and its neighbourhood is to 

 be found in Colonel Irby's " Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar," 

 while papers and articles on the birds of the Empire by Mr. Tyrwhitt- 

 Drake, Mr. Meade-Waldo and myself have at various times appeared 

 in tlie Ibis. Dr. Hartert also has given an interesting account of 

 a journey made by him in Marocco, together with some excellent 

 notes regarding the birds he met with (Novit. Zool. ix, pp. 310-339). 



Obviously a good deal that has been written on the Ornithology 

 of Algeria will apply equally to that of Tunisia, and vice-versa, for 

 there is no natural boundary or division separating the two countries, 

 or much difference in their physical features to cause a diversity in 

 their Avifauna. 



Between the Ornis of Tunisia and that of Marocco, however, there 

 undoubtedly is a considerable variation, which is due to the different 

 climate, physical character and geographical position of the two 

 countries. Thus Marocco, with the greater part of its seaboard 

 washed by the stormy Atlantic, and with its mountainous and well 

 watered interior, may naturally be expected to have a different climate, 

 soil and character generally, from that of Tunisia, which is bounded 

 by the Mediterranean on the north and east, is less mountainous and 

 watered and has the sandy desert for its " hinterland." 



Hence we find that certain species, which are abundant in the 

 one country, are rare or entirely absent in the other. Most noticeable 

 also is the variation in the coloration of birds according to their more 

 easterly or westerly habitat in this portion of North-west Africa, the 

 tendency of species in Tunisia being to become pale, whereas in 

 Marocco, on the contrary, the inclination is towards an intensity of 

 colour. 



This colour variation is apparently not confined to birds alone, but 

 extends to animal and vegetable life generally in this region. Prof. 

 A. Newton, speaking of Madeira birds (Ibis, 1868, p. 189;, and 



