THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 57 
thorough satisfaction with our entertainment, to be followed 
by a more tangible present of silk burnouses when we got 
to Laghouat, we trod once more the inhospitable desert. 
One of them was good enough to say he would accompany 
me, and I further availed myself of the convoy of two 
Spahis, who had been sent with letters from Laghouat. 
The first day’s journey was performed in a sharp sirocco 
wind, and the only rare bird seen was a Houbara Bustard. 
T noticed however a Lizard, about two feet long, running 
over the stones in the barest part of the sterile chebka. I 
had one brought to me at Laghouat which was more than 
three feet long. Berard, in his “Indicateur,” says, “On 
trouve le Pleitiondon Aldrovandi ou Scinque Cyprien, 
gracieux lézard 4 bec de poisson qui plonge dans le sables 
comme un poisson dans l'eau.” Perhaps this was the species 
Isaw. The next morning I shot Ammomanes regulus, a 
pretty little sand-coloured Lark, described in 1857 by Prince 
Bonaparte (Canon Tristram terms it “a very scarce bird,” 
and I believe justly,) and Saricola erythrea (Ehr), S. halo- 
phila (Trist.), erroneously given in my list in the “Ibis” as 
S. homochroa. 
When the Chebka Mzab was passed, I had further oppor- 
tunity of examining the Dayats. It was now the period of 
migration (May 2nd), and where there was water they were 
teeming with life. It was as if all the spring migrants of 
Southern Europe had been compressed into fifty acres. 
Beneath every jujube tree—at every thicket—were massed 
and congregated all manner of rare birds :—Pied Flycatchers, 
Hoopoes, Doves, Rollers, Woodchats—Warblers without 
end, seeking shelter from the burning midday sun. The 
Neophron (Neophron percnopterus) and the hoarse croaking 
Raven perched upon the taller Terebinths. Different sorts 
of Sandpipers flew before us, mingling with noisy Shrikes, 
while dozing Little Owls, awakened by our approach, dashed 
out from the deep foliage and hid themselves again. The 
