54 Mr. P. W. Munn — Ornithological 



extensive marshes, where there were troops of Buif-backed 

 Herons (Ardea bubulcus), often attendant on the cattle 

 grazing there. A few Terns were also seen here, but none 

 procured. I reached the mouth of the river at 2.30 p.m., and 

 we were able to sail iip as far as the Martine Custom-house, 

 where I had intended to stop, but it was full, so the baggage 

 was unloaded on the shore and I rode on to Tetuan, and, on 

 arriving there, put up at the house of one Nahon, in the 

 Jewish quarter of the town. Partridges (Cccca^i^ /?e/ro5«) 

 and Goldfinches {Carduelis elegans) are frequently kept in 

 confinement by the Moors, the former being probably used 

 as call-birds ; and Partridges^ eggs are always for sale in the 

 markets during the season, as delicacies. 



I walked one day to a village called Samsa, some eight or 

 ten miles north-west of Tetuan, at the head of a small valley 

 running at right angles to the valley of the Tetuan river. 

 The way first lay through narrow lanes among the luxurious 

 vegetation of the gardens surrounding the town ; here the 

 only bird of any note seen was Parus tenerijf(B : then across 

 some hilly ground covered with the inevitable scrub palmetto 

 and brilliant with innumerable flowers, where Crested Larks 

 only abounded. Thence I proceeded along the side of a 

 valley beneath steep cliffs, over which a few Vultures {Gyps 

 fulvus) were sailing, and neared the village through gardens 

 and luxurious vegetation and across running streams flowing 

 down from the clifts above. In some places there were 

 walls of rock completely covered with curtains of moss 

 and maidenhair fern. Hence some narrow lanes with 

 trees meeting overhead and streams trickling along the 

 pathway, at which Turtle-Doves {Turtur communis) were 

 frequently disturbed, led me to the cultivated terraces above 

 the village and on to the head of the valley. This was shut 

 in by a high semicircle of cliff's, from the foot of which the 

 hillside sloped away, covered with thick scrub-jungle and 

 strewn with fallen boulders from the cliff's above. The white- 

 washed mosque of the village and a few inconspicuous huts 

 — which I had carefully avoided — were lying far below, near 

 the stream, half hidden among the olives and fruit-trees of 



