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



Spotted Flycatcher was common ; but the Jay, so plentiful 

 elsewhere, was scarce; I saw one family-party only. I heard 

 the Common Nightjar, and saw some individuals hawking 

 high up on the mountain-side. Serin Finches were still 

 breeding, and I found several nests with eggs on June 27th. 

 There were a few pairs of the Sahara Bunting about the 

 kasbah, rather a high elevation for them ■ but I saw them 

 much higher on Jebel Bourzegan, in M'tuga, where they 

 were breeding in rocks at over 5000 feet. 



Finding that we could not ascend the very steep climb of 

 over 5000 feet from Gindafy with our heavily-laden pack- 

 animals, we had to partly retrace our steps down the valley 

 of the Nyfys, crossing which we passed westward into the 

 valley of the Wad Amsmiz and camped in a lateral valley 

 at a place called Sould Jedid— a Berber village with very 

 pleasant people, and a most delightful place. The mountains 

 here were covered w r ith damp forest, consisting of a most 

 luxuriant growth of all the native trees — almost impenetrable, 

 partly owing to the steepness of the ground. Here grew 

 what was apparently the common holly and great quantities 

 of laurustinus. High up, where it was too steep to get them 

 away, were some fine tracts of primaeval arar and prickly 

 oak ; above the forest was a low growth of dwarf cistus and 

 two kinds of a very prickly plant. The mountains here are 

 comparatively low, reaching to about 9000 feet. Bird-life 

 was abundant, but I will only mention what appeared 

 to me to be the most interesting species. I saw four Haw- 

 finches on the first day I camped here, but though I was 

 always on the look-out for the bird I never saw another. 

 The Golden Oriole was more numerous than I have ever 

 seen it ; it was most abundant and nesting up to 8000 feet. 

 Moussier's Redstart occurred everywhere, and occurred as 

 high as there was any scrub. The Atlas Coal-Tit [Parus atlas) , 

 which has been described as new, occurred here for the first 

 time ; it was abundant and much commoner than either the 

 Great Tit or the Blue Tit. Bonelli's Wood- Wren (Phyllo- 

 scopus bonellii) was much the commonest Warbler of the 

 woods. The Subalpine Warbler was the commonest in the 



