200 Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo— Bird-Notes 



Sand-Grouse, which trooped in to drink in great numbers, 

 morning and evening; but single birds used to come in 

 in the middle of the day, and these were almost invariably 

 old cocks coming to saturate their breasts, so as to convey 

 water to their young. Wherever there was sufficient bush 

 a pair of Shrikes {Lanius dodsoni) was sure to occur, and 

 also the Eared Chat [Saxicola catarina), which, with the 

 exception of one male of S. stapazina, was the only Chat I 

 came across until I reached the Atlas. Both the Great Tit 

 (Parus major) and the Ultramarine Tit (P. ultramarinus) 

 occurred in the tamarisks by the side of the water. 



After spending some ten days up the river we struck off 

 for Marrakesh. As food for our animals had become very 

 scarce, we travelled slowly ; the desert plains were very 

 desolate, the only birds observed being the two kinds of 

 Sand-Grouse (Pterocles arenarius and P. alchata), Calandrella 

 minor, a few individuals of Galerida thecla, Cursorius galli- 

 cus, and the Lanner (Falco feldeggi). 



On arriving at the mountains to the east of Rehamna we 

 passed through a tract of high zizyphus which was full of 

 old nests that appeared to have belonged to the common 

 House-Sparrow {Passer domesticus) ; these nests were built of 

 dry grass, and the young had flown some weeks previously. 

 I found some eggs in one or two which precisely resembled 

 Sparrow's eggs, but the nests were not lined with feathers, 

 and there was no town or village within many miles. There 

 had been some Arab tent- villages and some poor crops of 

 barley in the winter within perhaps a mile. I have observed 

 the Sparrow to be very independent of human dwellings in 

 many parts of Morocco, but nowhere so much as in this 

 out-of-the-way place. 



Of the city of Morocco itself not much that is new can be 

 written ; but no one can visit it without being delighted with 

 the wealth of bird-life in its streets and gardens. Here, as 

 elsewhere throughout the country, the Stork abounds — Little 

 Kestrels, Rollers, Purple Starlings, Rock-Doves, Little Owls, 

 Scops Owls, Barn-Owls, Black Kites, Dusky Bulbuls, Mouse- 

 coloured Swifts, White-rumped Swifts (Cypselus koenigi?), 



