128 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Subfamily CRATEROPODIN^. 



ARGYA FULYA (Desfontaines). 

 ALGERIAN BUSH-BABBLER. 



Turdus fulYUS, Desfontaines, Mum. de VAca-l Roy. Scl. 1787, p. 493, 



pi. xi. 

 Argya fulva, Dresser, Birds of Europe, iii, p. 21, pi. 93, fig. 1 (1875) ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vii, p. 397 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1894, p. 88; 



Erlancjer, J.f. O. 1899, p. 231. 

 Crateropus acacise, Mallierbe, Faune Orn. de I'Alg. p. 18 (1855). 

 Crateropus numidicus, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 286 (1867). 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Kairouan, Central Tunisia. 



Above tawny or fulvous-isabelline, slightly darker on the crown, the 

 feathers on that part having faint darkish shaft-stripes ; wings and tail 

 dusky isahelline-brown, slightly margined with a paler shade ; lores greyish ; 

 chin and upper throat white ; the remainder of the underparts pale rufescent- 

 isabelline, lighter on the middle of the abdomen and on the crissum. 



Iris hazel ; bill dark brown ; feet pale brown. 



Total length 10 inches, wing 3-90, culmen -85, tarsus 1-30. 



Adult female, similar to the male. 



Young birds have the plumage similar in colour, but downy in texture. 



Observations. — There seems to be no difference between the summer and 

 the winter plumage of this species. 



The Algerian Bush-Babbler is one of the comparatively few species 

 peculiar to this portion of the African Continent, and is common in 

 Southern and Central Tunisia wherever a bush vegetation prevails, 

 being, as its English name implies, eminently a bush-loving bird. 

 In the north of the Regency I have never met with it myself, and 

 do not think it often occurs there, although the naturalist Blanc 

 tells me he once obtained two examples of the species which had 

 been shot in the immediate vicinity of the town of Tunis. Its true 

 home in Tunisia is undoubtedly south of the Atlas, and more 

 particularly those districts where patches of cultivated land occur, 

 with clumps of wild jujube bushes {Ziziplius lotus) and other thorny 

 plants interspersed here and there. In such localities one may be 

 almost certain of meeting with A. fulva, and owing to its somewhat 

 conspicuous colouring and size, one can hardly fail to notice it. In 



