(R) 



a gravelly stretch and at last to a vast i.laiii of a Klittcring wliiti' like snow, lioing 

 covered with dust like plaster of Paris, and intorspersed with hillocks of crystallised 

 gyjisum, while a few kilometres to the east enormous bare sand-dunes, about a 

 hiindivd metres high, bordered the view, and near the dunes were some " gonr " 

 of liard sandy clay. On the steep cliffs of these "gonr" nested a jiair of (h-imnthc 

 liiqeiis, and we saw Bavens, Egyptian Vultures (ycoj/Ziron), a single J'alco 

 /j/arm/ciis rrlangeri, some CaUindicUa biachtjilartylii on passage, and one Sijlriii 

 nana desert/' on the other side of the sand-iuountains. It was very windy, but in 

 tiie evening it calmed down and we had a very nice catch of insects on the lamp, 

 and were greatly amused l)y the large nuantitics of a small sand-coloured I'lattid, 

 which flesv to the light and ran about with enormous swiftness, trying moat 

 eagerly to enter the gauze cage in which the lamp was ]ilaced. We sto|)ped two 

 nights at Hassi el-Hadjar, as the camels required a rest-day, and continued our 

 journey on the ITtli through dreadfully monotonous, uninteresting bare stony 

 desert (" liammada "), intersi)ersed with stretches resembling an ill-kejit gravel 

 l)ath in a neglected garden, and here and there with a flat-topped clay hill. 

 We saw a solitary Haven, fine Xeoj)/upii, three Milrnx lior.fcltuii, Alaeinon iilaitdlpen, 

 Culanilrella l)i<i<-liijila/:tiila,s.ui]. a single Aiitlixx ram/jt'str/s. Three (Jazelles were 

 sighted, but too shy to api>roach : they had curved horns and appeared to be of the 

 do/caa gronj). Our Arabs took a clutch of three eggs of Milrus korsckiin on one 

 of the "gour." On the Ibth wc rode one liour through reddish sand with scanty 

 vegetation, where i'erth'damln and <'ixr»or'nii<. were seen, then again the endless 

 dreary " gravel-ijath." Hilgert saw at a great distance what seemed to him to be 

 a cream- colon led jackal i^i) with some rufous on head and tail ; 1 saw several 

 very shy Gazelles. Jn the evening we had a strong but very short rain. On the 

 10th luuumada became more freipient, Aiitmoiit'inex ///loe/iiciints areiiicolor was 

 occasionally seen, a mammal, Meiianex xcl>ottKbo> i , was not very rare, though quite 

 local. A FAtcldoe was distinctly seen, but not obtained. Traces and dung of 

 Gazelles were found in quantities. 



About 184 kilometres south of Ouargla some rocks of a white colour 

 appeared, and at once Oemtntln: lem-ojii/ya was in evidence ; Plioenicunix 

 phoenicitrtis and Aiithus ram/jes/.n'g were observed on migration. In the evening 

 of the 20th a fairly heavy rain took i>lace, lasting two hours or so. A very 

 deep well without water was found in a depression, evidently an old lake-bed, 

 and a new well was being dug not far away, but so far water had not been 

 struck. Kear the camp, in the ■' Oued Djafon," I'/ii/Uoscojjkx troc/iilux, Oeimiitlie 

 oeimntlie, and a Brown Kite were seen. On the •.i2nd it was only -|- V C. in 

 the morning, but beautifully warm afterwards. The day, however, was a day 

 of ill luck. We saw two Ammomanex deserti but did not get them ; I missed a 

 Raven : our men caught a young gazelle, but we got no shot at an old one. 

 We found several nests both of Oenautkc leucopi/ga and ■Salvia nana deserti, 

 l)ut all were empty. It was five o'clock before we reached camp, and thus we 

 went through a day of hard work — having been in the saddle and on foot for 

 ten hours — without any valuable results at all. Wc caught a Cerastes cerastes 

 (Horned viper), and found a pretty t'oucolndus which was new to us (Coiir. 

 supinus, var. leucotrichus Krai., teste Schweinfurth). In the afternoon we came 

 into sandy, country with high Betama raetam and other typical forms of the 

 sand-flora, though the sand, which had a warm reddish yellow colour, forme<l 

 only a thin layer on top of whitish rock. On the following day we soon 



