74



Mr. W. H. Workman,



a large flock of Black and White Ducks, but they were not close

enough for us to make out the species; small waders were

running about the shore, and farther on we passed a flock of

Cranes running away from the train.


Between El Ouerra and Biskra we passed large Hawks,

probably Buzzards, quartering the fields. At Biskra birds were

scarce ; I noted a Harrier, Swallows, Blackbirds, Sparrows, and

Redstarts in the Public Gardens ; at the Officers’ Club were some

beautiful Dorcas Gazelles caught in the desert close by ; they

were quite tame and I got some good photos of them feeding.

Constantine, with its wonderful gorge i,oooft. deep running three-

quarters of the way round the town, was our next stopping

place; here up near the Jewish Cemetery I am nearly sure I saw

a Hoopoe, but have omitted it from my list. On the 16th we took

a walk through the gorge which is full of birds; numbers of

Lesser Kestrels were flying backwards and forwards, in and

out of their nesting holes in the great cliffs ; here and there one

would meet a group of Egyptian Vultures sitting about the places

where the town sewage flows into the river, waiting for some

delicate morsel that might chance to pass that way. This

brought the Vultures down much in my estimation, as the smells

in that gorge were quite beyond description. About the middle

of the gorge I noticed, along with the Jackdaws, a flock of dark

brown birds in size and appearance very like our Jackdaw, but

of quite a different colour. I thought at first they might be

young birds, but Dresser makes no remarks on any of the

Jackdaws having brown young ; I should be very pleased if some

reader could give me information on this subject. Dresser’s

Manual of Palceardic Birds is a first rate book, and often decided

a species for me by its clever descriptions. I strongly recom¬

mend it as a most useful and portable book. In the market I saw

Ringed Plover, Sandpipers, Quails, Larks, Blackbirds, Thrushes,

and skins of wild cats, badgers, mongoose, and jackals.


On the 17th we reached Hanmiam Meskoutine, to my

mind the most beautiful place visited by tourists in French North

Africa; here one sees the third hottest spring in the world

flowing over what appears to be a still waterfall composed of

glittering white lime deposited by the spring which in different



