276 



Obs. In the series I have before me I find considerable variation in the tone of colour, some specimens 

 being much greyer, and some much more rufous than others ; but I find that these appear to be merely 

 individual varieties, entirely irrespective of age, sex, or the season of the year when the specimens were 

 obtained; for I find both grey and red males and females varying equally in colour, and the grey 

 specimens are killed at the same time of the year as others very red in tinge. The most rufous bird is 

 one from Nubia, in Canon Tristram's collection ; and the greyest one is the specimen I have figured in 

 the back-ground, an adult male from Egypt. 



A true inhabitant of the desert, the present species is found only in the sandy districts in 

 Northern Africa and in the deserts of Western Asia; but it is said to have occurred on the 

 northern shores of the Mediterranean, though the records of its having been met with there 

 rest on but slight grounds. Schlegel (Rev. Crit. p. lviii) states that it has been met with in 

 Andalucia; but none of the later writers on the ornithology of Spain appear to believe that it 

 has ever really occurred there. Malherbe (Faune Orn. de la Sicil. p. 107) certainly states that 

 it occurs during migration in Sicily and in Provence ; but he gives no instance of a specimen 

 having been obtained, and later investigation tends to show that he must have laboured under 

 some mistake. Both Von der Miihle (Orn. Griechenl. p. 34) and Lindermayer (Vog. Griechenl. 

 p. 47) include it as occurring in Greece, and say that it is not uncommon on the arid plains 

 between Megara and Thebes; but, as they do not give any descriptions, it is not possible to 

 decide whether they really obtained the present species or not. Degland and Gerbe and 

 Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye speak of it as occurring in the south of France, but 

 give no authority ; and altogether its presence north of the Mediterranean is enveloped in con- 

 siderable doubt and obscurity. Cabanis (Mus. Hein. i. p. 126) records it from Candia ; and 

 Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1866, p. 289) says that he saw it several times in Palestine, but only 

 obtained a single specimen. Mr. C. W. Wyatt (Ibis, 1870, p. 15) records it from Ain Musa, 

 in the Sinai tic peninsula ; and in North-eastern Africa it is common throughout the desert 

 region down to 16° N. lat. Captain Shelley (Ibis, 1871, p. 139) says that he only met with it 

 twice in Egypt; but Dr. Leith Adams (Ibis, 1864, p. 24) speaks of it as being "not uncommon, 

 either solitary or in small flocks, around the pyramids and along the edge of the desert to Nubia." 

 Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub record it from Egypt, Nubia, and Sennaar ; Von Heuglin (Ibis, 1859, 

 p. 343) says that it is found on the Red Sea, south of Berenice (Ras Benass, 24° N. lat.), along the 

 East-African coast to the Somali country ; and I have specimens from Aden. Mr. Blanford found 

 it in Abyssinia, common about Zoulla, but comparatively rare near Massowa. In North-western 

 Africa it is numerous in the desert country. Major Loche speaks of it as being common in the 

 Sahara, and he observed it from Laghouat to Waregla ; and all the other naturalists who have 

 collected in Algeria speak of it as being a common species. Mr. Taczanowski (J. f. O. 1870, p. 44) 

 says that it is found in the province of Constantine, where it frequents the bush-covered desert. 



To the eastward the present species is found as far as Sindh, where, Mr. A. O. Hume says 

 that, as far as his experience goes, "it is confined to the more sandy tracts included in the broad 

 strip of comparative desert which, almost everywhere, borders the bases of the hills that alike on 

 the north and west separate Sindh from Khelat." Mr. Blanford met with it in Persia; and 

 De Filippi records it from Bender Abbas ; but Severtzoff does not refer to it as having been 

 observed by him in Turkestan. 



