NOTES ON TRISTRAM'S WARBLER. 107 



being almost as brightly adorned as males. This 

 species must breed rather late in spring, for it had 

 evidently not commenced laying at the end of May. 

 The late nesting of so many small birds in Algeria is 

 one of the most extraordinary facts in their economy. 

 With us in England birds begin to breed as soon as ever 

 the weather is suitable and food is abundant, but in 

 Algeria our little feathered friends seem to be in no 

 hurry. Perhaps it is because the summer is such a long 

 one in these mountain solitudes and on these verdant 

 plains, and food is plentiful for many months. Such 

 early birds as Wood Larks had only just begun to breed 

 towards the end of May, and the Algerian Chaffinch had 

 not even completed its beautiful nest at that date. 

 Spring is early in Algeria, many weeks in advance of its 

 advent in England, yet the birds most unaccountably 

 put off their nesting period until the summer. Nothing, 

 is known of the nest or the eggs of Tristram's Warbler. 

 I was obviously too early for either, and I am not aware 

 that any other naturalist except my companion, Captain 

 Elwes, has met with this bird in its summer quarters. 

 The birds are common enough in summer throughout 

 the Aures Mountains, and I should presume that the 

 breeding season is in June. The nest is doubtless built 

 in the brambles and scrub which the birds frequent, but 

 its materials and mode of construction, as well as the 

 colour of the eggs, are beyond the province of specula- 



