(11 ) 



l)n.sli which in tho south we saw only liere : Nitraria friflcntata. After some seavcli 

 we i'unnd the Hassi Okseibat. The water was only 3 metres from tlie surface, bnt 

 an old dry well was near by. 



This place is probably— like many otliers — an ancient resting-jdace of caravans. 

 Here, as in many other similar places, wc found many eggshells of extinct ostriches, 

 probably PKammornU rothsi-hiUi Andrews. The camp was most picturesque, l)ut 

 there was little life, only the Fennek (the little creamy white desert-fox), Ahtemon, 

 and of migrant birds Anthus campestris being noticed. 



On the :jlst we marched over a stony jilatean with a good deal of small 

 vegetation, to the Hassi Marroket, or Marrokat as the Arabs call it, where 

 excellent water was found about 7 or 8 metres from the surface. In the well, 

 2;', metres deep, Sa-ricolu leucopyna had liard-set eggs, and on the stone wall 

 protecting the well Pnascr vimpli'.r had a nest, unfortunately as yet without 

 eggs. 



On April 1 we ascended again the stony plateau, then crossed a number of 

 high dimes, among which we lost the way for some time because our guide attempted 

 to take a short cut, and thus subjected the camels to a very tiresome and partly 

 unnecessary toiling over steep sandhills. Gazclla leptoccros lodevi was seen : but a 

 heavy gale began to blow as soon as we entered the dunes and raged with increased 

 force until we reached a depression called " daya-bou-Ziane," where it reached its 

 height. With great difficulty, making use of occasional lulls, the tent was erected. 

 The gale then came in blasts with tremendous roar, and hot, as if coming from a big 

 furnace, and no collecting of any kind could be done, but I olitained jjhotographs of 

 the moving sand-dunes (PI. III.). The so-called "daya" contained very large 

 tamari.x-bushes — some o and even 4 metres high — but no other bushes of any kind. 

 The dunes covered solid rocks of red and white colours. Many of these dunes have a 

 nucleus of rock, and I suspect even the highest dunes have bases of stone, covered 

 with sand. Here the rocks that were visible here and there were smooth as if 

 polished, probably by the action of the sand. Few birds were seen : a Mikus korschun, 

 a single ^Vryneck and a single (Jomnthe {Saxicola) ili-serd. Since El-Golea we were 

 on the track of the French column which marched down to Tidikelt in 1900. Even 

 the ruts of the cannon were still visible iu some places, and in one place we found 

 the ruins of a stone house with numerous empty provision-tins, showing that French 

 soldiers had camped there. In tlie stone walls were nests of I'asurr simpler, but 

 still empty. Much of the tinned meat for the French army comes from New 

 ( Jaledonia and Madagascar. The stay in camp was not pleasant : the sand penetrated 

 everything, the heat was great and almost suffocating, and we had work — birds to skin, 

 reptiles to jirepare, etc. Moreover the spirit-boxes from the British Museum would 

 not unlock, the locks being too fine and complicated, and had to be taken to pieces. 



Next day we passed through a stony plain almost without any vegetation and, 

 liir a change, two high dune-belts ; but, about two in the afternoon, we reached the 

 bi'iiutiful valley of El-Meksa, surrounded by rocky hills covered with sand and high 

 dimes; the valley was full of flowering plants (especially Ni't/o/i/'i/tum dcscrti) 

 on which huge flies were numerous. These flies were liawkiug about in such a 

 manner that we at first thought they were a kind of MacroyloHiMm or other 

 Hawknioth. Corrus rorux umhriiui.'^ and Falco biarimcux erlaiujeri were seen, 

 J'dxxiT .sijnpkx auhtirac, and Aiiiinomiinex phoenkurm areidcolor ; of migrants only 

 ( '/icliiloii riixlini. Ascending the surrounding hammada to the south, we came ni)on 

 11 wide pliiin with liard brown soil covered with iiniumi'rable stones au<l without 



