132 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



perhaps introduced by the French, and perhaps introduction is 

 partly responsible for the plague of Sparrows in Algeria and 

 Tunis, about which I read in 'La Depeche Tunisienne.'* What- 

 ever he is at home, the House Sparrow has certainty proved to 

 be a curse wherever he has been taken abroad. 



The next morning I walked down a small winding valley, and 

 reached the Medjerdah, there merely a mountain stream, and a 

 very pretty one. The smaller valley was vine-clad at first, and 

 then bushed with the usual shrubs, a cytisus and the broom 

 being still in bloom ; the considerable elevation of the country 

 was further shown by the presence of scrub-oak, an ash and 

 an elm, both small, and low Aleppo pines in plenty. Some 

 vines had got astray, and festooned the small trees by the stream 

 and river, showing what a beautiful plant it may be when it 

 escapes from the formality of the vineyard. Nightingales were 

 abundant, and still in full song ; a pair were hopping and pecking 

 about on a bit of bare mud at the edge of the river, their tails up 

 like a Robin's. The Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and the Hoopoe 

 were both calling. The Cuckoo evidently breeds here, and I was 

 pleased to hear its note among the many less familiar songs, for 

 I knew I should be too late to hear it in England, where they 

 were enjoying an early season and a real summer. Serins, and 

 the very abundant Goldfinches, were singing. The Serin often 

 sings on the wing. The song is a rapid sibilant trill. Besides 

 the ordinary call-note, the Serin has another, viz. " chitty titty 

 weee," the last note ascending at the end. The Corn Bunting 

 was very numerous. Woodchats were common, as were Linnets, 

 Greenfinches (Ligurinus aurantiiventris), Sardinian Warblers, 

 Whitethroats, Blackbirds, Ultramarine Titmice, Rufous Warblers, 

 Algerian Chaffinches, Swallows, and Martins. Both Hypolais 



* I am perhaps wrong in assuming that Passer domesticus was intro- 

 duced by man. ' Yarrell' (4th edit.) says, " It is common, though not uni- 

 versally distributed, in Algeria." Loche, in his 'Catalogue des Mammiferes 

 et des Oiseaux observes en Algerie,' published in 1858, gives its habitat as 

 "les trois provinces de 1' Algerie." Seebohm says that P. hispaniolensis is 

 found in Spain, Algeria, Nubia, and Egypt, together with P. domesticus, the 

 latter being chiefly confined to the towns. Yet I cannot help thinking there 

 are some facts to be observed about the distribution of the House Sparrow 

 which point to its probable absence from the country before its settlement 

 by Europeans. 



