246 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



apparently on insufficient grounds, their measurements and colouring 

 differing in no way from those of many specimens from North-west 

 Africa. 



Occasionally, no doubt, C. duponti may occur as a straggler or 

 accidental visitor in some country other than those above mentioned, 

 and there is a male specimen of the species, obtained at Piombino 

 near Pisa on December 20th, 1900, in the Eoyal Museum at Florence. 

 This is the first and, so far as I am aware, the only recorded instance 

 of the species having been obtained in Italy. 



In the Ibis for 1898 (p. 126) I mentioned having met with 

 C. duponti in Tunisia, and pointed out how subject the species is to 

 variation in the colour of its plumage, according to the particular 

 locality it may inhabit. Examples from the more northern and high 

 plateaux districts are dark, and those from the southern and semi- 

 desert regions are paler and distinctly rufous, while those from 

 interlying localities are intermediate in colour. 



In size there seems to be no difference between the various forms, 

 the wing measurement varying from 390 to 4'10 inches in the case 

 of males, and from 3'5-5 to 3'75 in that of females. My Tunisian 

 specimens of C. duponti are slightly darker in colour than those I 

 have from Algeria, and from Loche's specimens in the Turati Collec- 

 tion at Milan, but the difference is insignificant. On the other hand, 

 the Tunisian birds are not quite so dark as a specimen in my collection 

 from Malaga. Specimens from the Balearic Islands vary somewhat 

 inter se in their colouring, but like those from the high plateaux 

 districts of Tunisia are inclined to be dark. 



As I have already stated in the Ibis 1 found C. duponti not at 

 all uncommon on the plains between Feriana and Kasrin, and I also 

 met with it near El-Oubira on the Algerio-Tunisian frontier. At 

 Bou Chebka, to the north of Feriana, it is also comparatively abundant 

 at an elevation of over 3,000 feet above sea-level, in fact, it seems to 

 occur throughout the greater part of the high plateaux region of 

 Central Tunisia, and I can only repeat what I have already said, viz., 

 that the species is not nearly so uncommon as it is generally supposed 

 to be, and that it is merely owing to the extraordinary capacity the 

 bird has of hiding itself that it escapes notice and is not more often 

 observed. 



All the plains on which I met with C. duponti were covered with 

 wild thyme and other low-growing plants, affording ample cover for 



