400 



inhabits North Africa and Arabia, and appears to be an occasional visitant to Southern Spain ; 

 for Messrs. Degland and Gerbe write that Lord Lilford informed them of its occurrence there, as 

 also MM. Verreaux, who personally obtained it at the Dehesa de l'Albufera, in Valencia ; and 

 Lord Lilford further writes to me as follows : — " I never myself found Otocorys bilopha in Spain ; 

 but in 1864 there were several specimens in the Museum at Valencia, which I was assured by 

 SeSor Cisternas were killed there, and I have no doubt as to the accuracy of the fact." I do not 

 find that it has been met with anywhere else north of the Mediterranean ; but Von Heuglin 

 (Orn. N.O.-Afr. p. 700) says : — " It is met with in pairs and in small flocks in Arabia Petrsea 

 and Arabia Felix (namely, about the most rugged rocks near the Gulf of Aqabah), but is not a 

 mountain-bird. We observed it in April, usually in pairs ; and the males were seen in the hottest 

 part of the day in the most desolate and scorched-up portions of the stony desert. I cannot say 

 if it is resident ; but 1 never observed it in the cold season in the western and southern portions 

 of the Sinaitic peninsula." It appears to be tolerably common in the deserts of Algeria: Loche 

 speaks of it as found in the desert after passing Laghouat and at Biskra; Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. 

 (Ibis, 1871, p. 290) met with it at Tilremt, halfway between Laghouat and Gardaia; and 

 Mr. Taczanowski (J. f. O. 1870, p. 44) says that he fell in with a flock of eight individuals at 

 the Tolga oasis, in a small valley in the middle of the Stony Desert, and shot six, one after the 

 other, with ease. Canon Tristram differs, however, from Loche in his notes respecting its habitat ; 

 for he writes (Ibis, 1859, p. 421), "it is by no means abundant anywhere in the desert, but 

 may occasionally be met with in parties of five or six on gravelly slopes, never, so far as my 

 observation goes, in the sandy districts. I have found it not far from the dayats." Mr. C. F. 

 Tyrwhitt-Drake, in his paper on the birds of Morocco (Ibis, 1869, p. 153), speaks of it as " found 

 between Rabat and Dar-el-baida." 



I find very little respecting the habits of this species on record, except what is stated by 

 Major Loche, who writes respecting its occurrence and habits in Algeria as follows: — "This 

 species, which we met with in the Algerian Sahara after passing Laghouat, and which was 

 obtained by Dr. Buvry near Biskra, never occurs in the coastal districts, but frequents the sandy 

 plains, with which its plumage so closely assimilates that it is extremely difficult to distinguish it. 

 It is usually seen in small companies of four or five individuals, and feeds on small seeds and 

 insects. It is not shy, and may easily be approached. Besides its call-note, which may be 

 expressed by the syllables tiri-tiri, several times repeated, the male has a pleasant song, which it 

 utters from the summit of any small sand hillock. Its flight is not strong ; and it runs much 

 more than it flies. Its nest is placed in the sand ; and in it are deposited three or four, very 

 rarely five eggs, which are yellowish white, dotted closely at the larger end with reddish spots, 

 which collect and form a wreath round the end of the egg. The young birds leave the nest 

 before they are able to fly ; but if pursued they run with great celerity, and are most difficult to 

 catch, as they hide in the depressions in the sand." 



This being the last of the Shore-Larks which come within the limits of the Western 

 Palaearctic Eegion, I give, as usual, the following short review of this group, taking Mr. G. E,. 

 Gray's well-known 'Hand-list' as a basis, the numbers being those used in the said list: — 



7734. O. alpestris (L.), the type of Otocorys, is very widely distributed, being found throughout the entire 



