298 Capt. A. G. L. Slaclen on the [Ibis, 



Otis tetrax. Little Bustard. Later observations proved 

 that these birds remained throughout the whole spring in the 

 district. I secured specimens up to July. They no longer 

 went about in flocks, but I frequently flushed single birds 

 from the long grass which covers the great tracts of 

 uncultivated land. On June 17 I secured a female with 

 incubation spots. I have no doubt that this species breeds 

 throughout the country, and it was only the vast amount of 

 cover and the lack of time which prevented me from finding 

 nests. 



(Edicnemus oedicnemus. Stone-Curlew. First noticed 

 May 14. I found two eggs May 16, and thereafter I 

 found this bird all over the country in pairs — also several 

 nests. 



Glareola pratincola. Collared Pratincole. On June 8 

 I visited Lake Ardji Gheul, and found these birds just begiu- 

 nins: to breed. At this time the sun was so hot that the 

 parent birds were obliged to cover their first egg to protect 

 it, and as intervals of two days often separated the laying 

 of a second, and another one or possibly two days elapsed 

 before the third made its appearance, there was a good 

 deal of discrepancy in the incubation of the clutch. Eggs 

 were laid in a slight depression scratched out of the dried 

 mud which fringed that part of the lake. These nests 

 were lined in most cases with small whitish pebbles or 

 bits of dried mud about the size of peas. The eggs 

 harmonised so well with their surroundings that even 

 after having watched a bird leave the nest, I had some 

 difficulty in finding it. Parent birds feigned lameness 

 and injuries by stretching themselves on the ground with 

 wings extended, or by trailing a leg behind them and 

 hopping on the other supported by one wing. Tlie heat of 

 the sun compelled birds to cover their eggs almost as soon 

 as they had left them, and in a short time there were several 

 within twenty-five yards of me. The full complement was 

 three, but there were several nests which never had more 



