RTTTICILLA TITYS 67 



vicinity of the town of Tunis the species may often )ie met with, and 

 in Central Tunisia it is by no means uncommon in the neighbourhood 

 of Kasrin, and other parts where rocky ground and Eoman ruins are 

 plentiful. The species, indeed, seems to have a predilection for stone- 

 work and masonry in general, and ruins, from the fact of their being 

 generally situated in quiet and deserted localities, are much frequented 

 by these birds. In Eome the Black Eedstart may often be seen 

 among the ruins of the Forum and Colosseum. Buildings of any 

 kind, however, attract the species, which, although naturally rather 

 shy and suspicious, at times becomes remarkably tame and confiding, 

 and in some Continental towns, where birds are unmolested, it may 

 constantly be observed in the immediate vicinity of dwellings. 



Although resembling the common Eedstart in some of its habits 

 and tastes, the present species differs from that bird essentially in 

 the decided preference it evinces for stonework and rocky ground, 

 and although occasionally to be found perching on bushes, it is much 

 more often to be seen on rocks or on the ground. When on passage 

 the species may sometimes be found in small flocks, but as a rule it 

 is to be met with smgly or in pairs. 



The song of the Black Eedstart is pleasing, and much fuller than 

 that of the preceding species. 



Its food consists chiefly of worms and insects. I know of no 

 instance of B. titijs breeding in Tunisia, but it is said to nest in 

 Algeria, and may possibly also do so in the Eegency. In Marocco 

 Mr. Meade-Waldo appears to have met with this species on the 

 highest elevations of the Atlas in summer-time {Ihis, 1903, p. 206). 



Under the name of Ruticilla nigra Professor Giglioli has recently 

 described as belonging to a new species a pair of Eedstarts, which 

 were obtained in November, 1902, at Loceri, near Lanusei, in the 

 island of Sardinia {Bull. B. 0. C. xiii, p. 79). The plumage of these 

 birds, a male and female, is almost entirely of a deep sooty-black 

 colour, the tail-feathers and upper tail-coverts alone showing traces 

 of the rusty or orange-brown so characteristic of the geuus Ruticilla. 

 Like Professor Giglioli, with whom I happened to be at the time 

 these specimens arrived from Sardinia, I at first thought that they 

 were examples of B. titijs dyed black, but such proves not to have 

 been the case. Intensely developed melanism might perhaps account 

 for the peculiar phase of plumage, and in this case, being highly 

 abnormal examples, the difference pointed out by Professor Giglioli as 



