224 



specimen ; a third example, shot by Canon Tristram at Beersheba, on the 2nd of February, 1864, is in 

 the full summer-plumage similar to that above described. 



Adult Female (El Aghouat, November 20th, 1856. Canon Tristram's type specimen). Upper parts sandy 

 isabelline, on the head and rump washed with rufous, aud darker on the back ; quills dark brown, 

 margined with dull isabelline ; the larger wing-coverts broadly margined with rufous isabelline ; tail 

 blackish brown, the basal half bright rufous ; upper tail-coverts pale rufous ; underparts buffy white, on 

 the breast washed with pale rufous ; auriculars washed with rufous ; under tail-coverts dull rufous buff. 



Obs. A female, shot at Beersheba on the 2nd of February, is similar to the above, but has the underparts 

 rather paler. 



O^E of the least-known of the Chats, this species, first described by Canon Tristram, has a very 

 restricted range, and has hitherto only been met with in North-western Africa, Palestine, and 

 Persia, not having as yet been recorded from any portion of the large intervening tract of 

 country. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., met with it in Algeria, and writes that "many pairs were 

 seen at Tibrcm, but never in the stony Chabka myat. This is a large bird, holds itself upright, 

 and has the habit of raising the tail, common to the rest of the tribe. I did not see them near a 

 dyat, but in the level prairie-land, where flocks and herds pasture. From being unmolested 

 they have learnt to hop among the Arab tents, feeding upon what they find among the small 

 stones," &c. Mr. Taczanowski records it as rare in Algeria, and writes that " the first (a male) 

 was shot by Count Alexander Branicki, on the road between Batna and Elkantara ; and the female 

 slipped into a jerboa's hole, and escaped. In the desert they were always met with in pairs." 

 To Canon Tristram, however, we are indebted for the chief information respecting this species. 

 In his paper on the ornithology of Northern Africa (Ibis, 1859, p. 299) he writes as follows: — 

 " I first met with it near the caravansery of Ain el Ibel, a day's journey north of El Aghouat; 

 and thenceforward until our approach, in the following spring, to the Tunisian frontier it occurred 

 sparingly at intervals, wherever the nature of the country afforded scope for its peculiar habits. 

 I found it near the dayats of El Aghouat, near Waregla, and far to the north-east of El Mari'er, 

 south-east of Biskra. It is a constant resident and a very early breeder in those portions of the 

 Desert which are composed of loose sand studded with low stunted bushes. Among rocks or in 

 the Salt-districts I never detected it. It perches, like the Whinchat, on the top of a bush, 

 uttering incessantly a very similar note. The male and female are constantly together, and on 

 being alarmed take refuge sometimes in flight, but more generally disappear into a burrow in the 

 sand. The first I shot vanished in a moment ; and though certain he had fallen, I was compelled 

 to relinquish my search. The second disappeared as mysteriously ; but observing a drop of blood 

 at what seemed to be a small lizard's hole, I dug down, and, after a quarter of an hour's excava- 

 tion, recovered the bird, quite dead. At this moment the female issued from another hole close 

 by, and escaped. On further search, I found a small chamber with last year's nest, and another 

 passage out, by which the remaining bird had escaped. The Arabs say that they use old snake- 

 holes, and make a second exit themselves, for security from the large carnivorous lizards, which 

 are their great enemies. The retreat is always just under a bush, no doubt for the sake of 

 greater consistency in the sand, which otherwise would certainly fall in and choke the inha- 



