SAXICOLA CATERING 33 



was brought before the notice of the British Ornithologists' Club by 

 Mr. W. Ruskin Butterfield, at a meeting held in June of that year 

 (Bull. B. 0. C. xii, p. 78). 



S. cater ince is tolerably abundant in many parts of Tunisia as a 

 summer migrant, arriving, as a rule, after the middle of March, and 

 leaving again in September. Its winter quarters are evidently further 

 south, and I have no note of its occurrence anywhere in the Eegency 

 during the cold months. 



After the termination of the spring passage ,S. caterince is more 

 often to be met with north of the Atlas, though a good many of 

 these Chats also breed in the central districts of the Regency, and 

 probably do not cross the Atlas at all. Towards the end of March, 

 and throughout the month of April, I have found the species in 

 considerable numbers on most of the high plateaux and stony scrub- 

 covered plains of Central and South-western Tunisia, notably on 

 those lying between Feriana and Gafsa, and near Oglet-Zelles in 

 the west of the Eegency. About Kasrin, too, and on the slopes of 

 the Djebel Semama it is more or less plentiful, and in constant 

 evidence during the spring months. In North Tunisia I have found 

 this Chat common on the plain of Carthage, and on the lower hill- 

 sides near Hamman-Lif, within a short drive of the town of Tunis. 



Like its near ally, S. stapazina, the present species is a bush-loving 

 bird, and evinces a partiality for open, undulating country, where a 

 scrub or dwarf vegetation flourishes, apparently avoiding the more 

 rocky and barren districts frequented by »S'. cenanthe. The species, 

 however, is also to be met with at times on some of the higher 

 mountains, and I have an example of it, a female, which was obtained, 

 together with its nest and eggs, on the Djebel Mahmel in Algeria, 

 at an altitude of about 5,000 feet above sea-level. 



Mr. Meade-Waldo (Ibis, 1908, p. 204) also mentions having met 

 with the species in Marocco at considerable elevations. 



Resembling the preceding species, and the Black-throated Chats, 

 in its slender build and sprightliness, the present species also 

 resembles them in its habits generally, and in its nesting. 



Perched on the top of a low bush, or shrub, the male of this 

 species is a conspicuous object, and is oftener to be noticed than its 

 more soberly attired mate. It seems probable that the males precede 

 the females somewhat in their arrival, and this would account for 

 the fact that several of the former sex are occasionally to be seen 

 3 



