NOTES ON TRISTRAM'S WARBLER. 105 



thus setting its identity at rest, and placing it satisfac- 

 torily and securely in the list of recognised species. In 

 one of my Algerian note-books I have come across an 

 account of the habits of this interesting bird, penned 

 down at the time of observation, and I offer them to the 

 reader as a fragment of the natural history of this little- 

 known species. 



Tristram's Warbler is perhaps most nearly allied to 

 Marmora's Warbler (S. sarda) and our own Dartford 

 Warbler, the active little bird which was first discovered 

 in the furze brakes of Kent In winter plumage 

 Tristram's Warbler is a rather plain-looking chestnut- 

 brown bird, but in spring-time, when it assumes its 

 wedding attire, it becomes much more handsome in 

 appearance, the under parts being vinous chestnut, most 

 pronounced on the throat, and the head and nape are 

 gray. 



In some parts of the Aures Mountains I found 

 Tristram's Warbler absolutely the commonest species of 

 Sylvia. There can be no doubt that like many other 

 birds in Algeria this species retires southwards into the 

 Great Desert to spend the winter, and returns to the 

 mountains in spring to breed. It seemed to have no 

 special choice of haunt, and might be seen in every 

 locality where sufficient cover to conceal it existed. I 

 met with it very common amongst the scrub in the 

 grand old evergreen oak forests high up the Aures, and 



