52 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



small and deep, with a stick, failed to find any indication of a nest, 

 and concluded therefore that the birds were only contemplating 

 breeding. 



The species is generally to be found in pairs, although the males, 

 owing to their more conspicuous plumage, are more often noticed 

 than the females. When perching on a wall or bank, the male bird 

 dips and makes play with its tail, after the manner of some other 

 species, and if approached quietly and not too near, will allow itself 

 to be watched for a considerable length of time, though in its turn 

 watching the intruder carefully at the same time. 



The flight of the species seem to be fairly powerful, but is not, 

 as a rule, prolonged for any great distance. 



Its food consists, probably, almost entirely of insects, coleoptera, 

 no doubt, entering largely into its diet. 



The song of this species, which is generally uttered by the bird 

 when perching on a rock or stone, is rather subdued and very sweet, 

 but at times it becomes chattering. 



S. halopliila apparently always nests in holes in the sides of cliffs 

 or banks, and deep down into the soil. I have no nest or eggs of the 

 species in my collection from Tunisia, but, according to Dr. Koenig, 

 the nest is rather a loosely constructed flat structure, composed 

 chiefly of grasses and plant material, and lined with hair, while the 

 eggs, five to six in number, are of a fine unglossed blue-green, spotted 

 with reddish - brown, chiefly in a zone at the blunt end. Average 

 measurements, 20 X 15 mm. March and April seem to be the prin- 

 cipal months for the nesting of the species, and by the middle of the 

 latter month I have met with fully-grown young birds just able to 

 fly. The parent birds show great solicitude for their young, and 

 when with them may be more easily approached and observed. 



SAXICOLA LEUCOPYGA (C. L. Brehm). 

 WHITE-EUMPED CHAT. 



Yitiflora leucopyga, Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 225 (1855). 

 Saxicola leucopyga, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Miis. v, p. 371. 

 Dromolsea monacha, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 199 (1867). 

 D. nigra, Lnclw, Erpl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 200 (18G7). 

 D. leucopyga, Erlangcr, J. f. 0. 1899, p. 240. 



