BIRD-LIFE IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 97 



wild alarm as he hurries off through the dark cedars. 

 The decaying timber is riddled with holes made by Le 

 Vaillant's Woodpecker. Everywhere in these noble 

 woodlands the curious Hoopoe may be met with : it 

 also frequents the bare hillsides and the luxuriant 

 tropical verdure of the oases, its full, soft but far- 

 sounding cry of poo-poo-poo being heard incessantly. 

 The beautiful little Pied Fly-catcher makes its nest 

 in a knot-hole of some decaying tree ; and wherever 

 the vegetation is sufficiently dense to afford it cover 

 the Woodchat Shrike abounds. It is usually first seen 

 sitting on the top of a bush, or a dead branch of a tree, 

 and looks very conspicuous, both when at rest and when 

 flying to another perching place. In the more open 

 parts of the forest Wood Larks and Meadow Buntings 

 warble loudly ; and colonies of black-coated Choughs 

 noisily flutter along the face of the rocks. These 

 mountain forests are the great head-quarters of the 

 Algerian Coal Titmouse a bird so rare in collections, 

 that up to the period of my visit to Algeria only three 

 specimens were known to exist in British cabinets. 

 This little bird is very similar to our British Coal Tit- 

 mouse, only the white portions of the plumage in that 

 species are replaced by pale yellow. I found it in com- 

 pany with the Ultramarine Titmouse and the Firecrest, 

 and it was repeatedly to be seen perched on the rocks 

 below the cedar trees and evergreen oaks. Its habits are 



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