SCOTOCEKCA SAHAB£. 



(ALGERIAN SCRUB-WARBLER.) 



Malurus saharce, Loche, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1858, p. 395. 

 Malurus Sahara, Loche, Cat. des Produits de l'Algerie, p. 87 (1858). 

 Drymoica siriaticeps, Tristram, Ibis, 1859, p. 58. 

 Drymoeca striaticeps, Tristr., Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 245 (1869). 

 Drymoica saharce, Loche, Expl. Sci. de l'Algerie, Oiseaux, p. 283 (1867). 

 Scotocerca saharce (Loche), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vii. p. 214 (1883). 



Figurce notabiles. 

 Loche, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1858, pi. xi. fig. 2 ; Koenig, J. fur Orn. 1892, tab. iii. 



Ad. corpore supra isabellino vix rufescente tincto, pileo indistincte pallide f usco striato : remigibus fuscis, 

 isabellino marginatis : rectricibus fuscis, ruf'escenti-cervino marginatis, nommllis cervino-albido apicatis : 

 corpore subtus albo : gula. et gutture indistincte pallide griseo-fusco striatis. 



Adult Male (Algeria, Sabara). Upper parts warm greyish isabelline, with a slight rufous tinge, especially 

 on the rump ; wings brown, the quills margined with sandy isabelline ; tail dark brown, the feathers 

 margined with rufescent isabelline, several having dull whitish-isabelline tips ; underparts white, the 

 throat indistinctly striated with greyish brown, these striations extending to the sides of the breast : 

 bill pale brown, lighter and tinged with orange at the base ; legs yellowish flesh ; iris brown. Total 

 length about 4 inches, culmen 04, wing T75, tail T7, tarsus - 75. 



The present species, the western representative of Scotocerca inquieta, is only known to occur in 

 North-west Africa, and was first discovered by the late Major Loche in Algeria, where, though 

 locally distributed, it is in places tolerably common. Canon Tristram writes (Ibis, 1859, p. 419) : 

 " In one and only one locality did I meet with this most graceful Warbler. On the route 

 between N'goussa and Temacin we had halted for a few hours by the salt-lake of Ain Bahrdahd, 

 one of the most extensive of the few natural wildernesses of the desert, and which had not at that 

 time been visited by any European. Wandering in the swamp in pursuit of Crateropus fulvus, I 

 was struck by a clear long-drawn call of five notes, unlike any I had ever heard — whee-iohy-whe- 

 whe-hee. It was long before among the tamarisks I could descry the songster, whom I at length 

 observed, now running up the boughs like a Creeper, and then poising himself on a twig with his 



tail perpendicularly expanded and jerking it backwards and forwards Capt. Loche has, I 



believe, since obtained it at the same spot. It occasionally poises itself in the air and suddenly 

 drops down again among the long grass." Dr. Koenig obtained several specimens at Biskra in 

 Algeria, where it was, he says, by no means uncommon in the desert ; and he further adds that 

 the collector Alessi sent him skins obtained in the vicinity of Gabes in Tunis. 



Mr. Whitaker (Ibis, 1895, p. 95) says that it "seems to be strictly a desert species, never 



