The Zoologist — August, 1871. 2725 



— warblers without end, seeking shelter from the burning sun ; the 

 neophron {Neophron percnopterus) and the raven {Corvus corax) 

 perched upon the taller terebinths; different sorts of sandpipers 

 flew before us, mingling with noisy shrikes [Lanius dealhatus) ; 

 dozing little owls [Athene nie rid ion a lis) dashed out from the deep 

 foliage and hid themselves again. I suspect that not a few birds 

 are tempted by the water and rich foliage to remain and rear their 

 progeny in these dayats. This is the country to which the Arabs 

 apply the term Sahara : I know it is the Great Desert which is so 

 marked in English maps, but this is the true Sahara — the habitable 

 country which ends where all regular supply of water fails. 



We rode into Laghouat at 8.30 on Thursday morning: it was 

 nearly four weeks since I had seen a European. I heard on all 

 hands of the camel razzia at Zergoun r I might almost say it had 

 created some uneasiness. I was not sorry to take the fast " courier" 

 and return to Algiers, which I did without further incident, and 

 thence by the usual route to England. 



J. H. GURiNEY, JUN. 



Birds at Rannoch. — If Mr. Eedle visits Ranuoch another season he 

 ought, I thiuk, to get further information about the hobby, the rock pipit 

 and the stock dove. The fact that these species are common in the heart 

 of Scotland in summer, if correct, is a new and interesting one, and further 

 particulars will be valuable. — J. H. Gurney,jun. ; 2 ^ Beta Place, N.W. 



Birds of tlie MalTcrn District. — May I be allowed to make a few remarks 

 on the last part of Mr. Lees' interesting " Birds of the Malvern District." 

 In the first place I am desirous of knowing what he means by the " Crested 

 Cardinal Finch {Pyrrhula erythrina, Tem.)," as under that name are 

 confounded two very distinct birds. The cardinal finch, or grosbeak, is a 

 well-known American cage-bird, sometimes called the Virginian nightingale, 

 while the scarlet bullfinch [Pyrrhula erythrina) is, as Mr. Lees says, a 

 Russian species, which is gradually extending its range westward as far as 

 the British Isles (refer. Ibis, 1861, p. Ill; 1869, p. 226; 1870, p. 276), 

 As Mr. Lees says be is not aware whether the tropic bird has ever before 

 been found in Europe, I will here point out that Leigh, who wrote in 1700, 

 includes it in his " Natural History of Lancashire," with a picture copied 

 from Willugbby. " Sometimes," he says " there are birds not common in 

 these parts brought hither by storms (as was hinted before) particularly 

 about two years ago, by a violent hail-storm ; amongst the rest there was a 

 bird all white (e.xcept only a short red beak) about the bigness of a pigeon ;• 



SECOND SERIES — YOL. VI. 2 S 



