PYCNONOTUS BARBATUS 163 



Observations. — Apparently the winter plumage of this species is darker 

 than that of spring, the colour of the head in the former season being 

 almost hke that of P. arsindc. The difference in si;^e, however, at once 

 distinguishes the two species. 



Tho Dusky Bullnil is not an iiiiconiiiKin hiid in some of the 

 wooded districts of North Tunisia, but its range in the Kegency is 

 not an extensive one, and appears to be confined strictly to the Tell 

 country north of the Atlas. 



In Algeria and Marocco, but particularly in the latter country, 

 the species seems to be more abundant than it is in Tunisia, and my 

 collection contains a large series of specimens obtained from various 

 districts of the Empire, some of them situated as far south as the 

 Haha country. Mr. Meade-Waldo says it ascends to at least 7,000 

 feet in the moist woods of the Atlas. Apparently the southern range 

 of this Bulbul extends considerably beyond Marocco, the species, 

 according to some authors, occurring along the West African coast 

 down to Senegambia, and even further south. Whether this 

 southern form is quite the same as tlic typical one is not yet clearly 

 established. According to Colonel Irby (Orn. Strs. Gib. p. 77) the 

 Dusky Bulbul is very plentiful in the vicinity of Tangier and Larache 

 in North Marocco, where it frequents fruit-gardens and orchards, 

 feasting largely upon ripe oranges. Its way of eating this fruit is 

 ingenious, for it makes a neat hole in one side of the orange, and 

 then completely clears out the juicy contents, leaving the rind intact, 

 except for the small aperture on one side. The same method is often 

 resorted to by Black Rats, and I have known orange-trees in Sicily 

 completely thus denuded of their fruit by these creatures. 



In Tunisia, as above mentioned, the Dusky Bulbul occurs in the 

 Tell districts north of the Atlas, where it is resident and breeds. 

 In the valley of the Medjerdah it is fairly abundant, and to be met 

 with in most of the wild olive-groves, and among the higher " maquis " 

 thickets on the hill-slopes, but it seldom occurs in the more lofty 

 oak-forests. At Ain-Draham and Fernana, both thickly wooded 

 districts, it is also to be found, as well as in the neighbourhood of 

 Bizerta, in the extreme north-east of the Regency. The vegetation 

 in the last-named district is almost exclusively of the " maquis " des- 

 cription, but the Bulbul seems to be as much at home there as in 

 the better wooded country further west. Orange-groves, however. 



