IX. 



BIRD-LIFE IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 



ALTHOUGH Algeria is so popularly supposed to be 

 synonymous with barrenness a country of sterile 

 mountains and arid deserts, it is in fact a land possess- 

 ing great charms for the naturalist, especially if the 

 study of birds be his particular forte. We here meet 

 with many of those feathered wanderers that only by 

 chance drift as far northwards as the British Islands 

 from their African home such distinguished strangers 

 as the Griffon Vulture, the Bee-eater, the Rufous Warbler, 

 the Golden Oriole, and the Hoopoe. In addition to these 

 birds, which are only known to us as accidental visitors, 

 Algeria is highly favoured with the presence of bird-life, 

 and in all parts of this physically diversified country 

 birds may be met with whose habits and characteristics 

 are intensely interesting. Let us take a peep at some of 

 the most striking birds of these Algerian wilds. 



It is the early spring-time. In fact winter reigns 

 supreme in England, and there the fields are still oc- 

 casionally covered with snow, and not even the hardy 



