in tivo Andalucian Sie7ras. 475 



rufous on the under parts as tlie typical bird, nor so slate- 

 brown as the Algerian form, T. m. algirus (Mad.). — H. F. W.'\ 



■'^ Monti COLA SAXATi LIS (L.). Rock-Thrush. 



San Cristobal. — This migratory species had not arrived 

 during our first visit in March ; but in April Rock-Thrushes 

 Avere plentiful, frequenting almost exclusively the rocky 

 stacks from 4000 ft. upwards, where they were obviously 

 about to breed. Ou April 24th a male was courting, 

 strutting about a flat-topped rock, fluttering his drooping 

 wings in front of a female. At this season the sweety clear 

 song, uttered either from a stance or whilst in descent 

 describing aerial circles with outspread wings and tail, con- 

 tributes in no small measure to the charm of the upper 

 regions. On April 25th a pair were shot whose sexual 

 organs indicated that laying might be expected in two 

 or three weeks time, not earlier. 



Sierra Nevada. — Plentiful about the rock-stacks of the 

 middle zone, but not present at the very suitable-looking 

 Penones de San Francisco (8500 ft.), where snow lay in 

 patches on May 1st and 2nd. 



The sexual organs of a male shot on INIay 1st shewed 

 that laying would not take place before the latter part 

 of that month. 



[In a previous year I had found a nest with five eggs on 

 May 18th, confirming Lynes^s observation as above. — A. C] 



MoNTicoLA soLiTARius. Blue Rock-Thrush. 



San Cristobal. — Our experience of the (resident) Blue 

 Rock-Thrush was that it kept apart from its more brilliant 

 congener, its chief haunts being the crags and precipices 

 below 3500 ft., while it occurred not only on San Cristobal 

 itself, but in the foothills, where M. saxatilis was never 

 seen. 



Like most of the resident birds, it is an early breeder ; 

 half-built nests were found in jNIarch. 



Sierra Nevada. — Almost abundant among the stupendous 

 precipices at 4000 to 2500 ft., through which the Monachil 

 descends to the Vega. Comparatively few of these birds 



