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124 BIEDS OF TUNISIA 



throughout the year and is no doubt a resident and local race, the 

 range of which apparently extends over the Atlas region, and to the 

 extreme southern portion of the Iberian Peninsula. 



During the winter months C. cisticola is to be met with in Tunisia 

 wherever there may be moist or sedgy ground, and occasionally it may 

 also be found in cornfields and more or less dry localities at some 

 distance from water. 



Though not exactly shy, this tiny Warbler is rather secretive, and 

 is fond of resorting to uncultivated localities, among the rough grass 

 and tangled vegetation of which it can hide with ease. In such spots 

 it may often be seen hovering over some clump of rushes or long grass, 

 suspended, as it were, in mid-air, and uttering the while its short 

 song, which may be fairly well rendered by the monosyllable " zic " 

 repeated rapidly several times. On the approach of danger the little 

 songster suddenly disappears, dropping down into the thick herbage, 

 from whence it is dislodged with difficulty. Its flight is feeble and 

 wavering, and it is a matter for wonder how this diminutive bird, 

 and some others of seemingly limited powers of flight, are able to 

 accomplish the long journeys they undertake. Small insects form 

 the principal food of the species. Its deep, purse-shaped nest, which 

 is attached to the blades of corn or grass, is a wonderfully artistic 

 piece of work, composed chiefly of fine grasses neatly interwoven, 

 and lined with vegetable-down or other soft materials. Its eggs, 

 four or six in number, are generally white, or rosy-white, and more 

 rarely pale blue, spotted with reddish or pale brown. Average 

 measurements 1-5 X 1"2 mm. 



CISTICOLA CISTICOLA MAURITANICA, Whitaker. 

 MOORISH PANTAIL-WAEBLER. 



Cisticola cisticola mauritanica, WIdtaker, Bull. B. 0. C. 1903, xiv, 

 p. 20. 



Description. — Adult male, autumn, from Batua, Algeria. 



Differs from C. cisticola (Temm.) in the darker coloration of the plumage 

 ge.nerally, and particularly that of the rump and flanks, which are far less 

 yellow or tawny ; the soft parts are also darker, and the measurements 

 larger than in C. cisticola. 



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