DIPLOOTOCUS MOUSSIERI 63 



the present species has been referred, Diploofoctis differs still more 

 than it does from the preceding ones. 



Under the circumstances, therefore, I see no way out of the 

 difficulty other than that of placing it in a new genus, and adopting 

 Mr. Hartert's somewhat uneuphonious name of Diplootociis, derived 

 from the Greek 8i,Tr\ov<; wotokos, and referring to the differently 

 coloured eggs which the species lays. 



This richly coloured and attractive little bird, which; is to be met 

 with throughout the Atlas districts generally, appears to be peculiar 

 to the north-west portion of the African continent. A male specimen 

 of the species which is in the Florence Royal Natural History Museum 

 appears to have been obtained in the neighbourhood of Nice on 

 November 2'2nd, 1890, and Colonel Irby, writing on the Ornithology 

 of the Straits of Gibraltar, mentions having seen a bird near Tarifa, 

 which he felt sure belonged to the present species. Giitke also 

 records the capture of a specimen in Heligoland in 1842. With 

 these exceptions, however, D. moussieri, does not seem to have been 

 recorded from any other country except North-west Africa. 



D. moussieri, although a resident species, appears to be migratory 

 to a certain extent within its own habitat, and in winter is to be found 

 in some of the oases and more bushy steppe- country of the South. 

 In spring, however, it leaves these districts for the Atlas and moun- 

 tainous country further north, whicli may be called the true home 

 of the species. Canon Tristram met with the bird in winter-time 

 near Ouaregla and in the M'zab countr}-, and I have numerous notes 

 of its occurrence during that season in South Tunisia. In the spring 

 I have found the species abundant throughout the Tunisian Atlas 

 region and in the districts further north. 



In Algeria it is common in spring and summer throughout the 

 Aures range and other mountainous districts. 



From Marocco I have a large series of examples, man}' of them 

 obtained in the Atlas at considerable elevations, other specimens 

 being from Ecru and Eas-el-Ain, coast districts lying south of 

 Mogador. Mr. Meade-Waldo also appears to have found the species 

 common in the Maroccan Atlas, at altitudes as high as 9,000 feet, 

 and likewise in the neighbourhood of Mogador (Ilns, 1903, p. 206). 

 I have no note of its occurrence in Tripoli. 



D. Jiioussicri, as a rule, frequents the bush-covered slopes of hill- 

 sides and uncultivated country, where the vegetation is of the 



