47 
the Teregrine, which bears the native name ol Biiliri in India.^ 
He would coincide with Dr. Tri»tram in identifying El Bourni 
with the Barbary falcon {Falco harharm,) and Zeharhuch with 
the hobby {Falco suhbufeo.) There thus remains three names to 
he accounted for. 
The missing camel turned up on Sunday the 17th, to niy great 
relief. The Spahis had recovered it for me and taken it back to 
Laghouat. Several of my things had been lost or injured. With 
the° cahiel came a letter from the captain of the Bureau Arab 
strongly advising my immediate return, on account of the dis- 
turbances at Zergoun; but Mohammed overruled this, deeming 
that it would bo better to stay in safe (luarters until the country 
was quiet. Accordingly, wo remained with the Mzab for three 
weeks, during all which time we were fed and lodged gratis, at the 
dilferont towns we visited, viz : — IMellika, Bou Noiim, El Ateuf, 
Beiiuisguen. These towns are all in the same oasis, and the dry 
course of the river winds between them. Bou Houra is a heap of 
ruins; half the town has been dismantled, and the crumbling, 
unroofed, long-deserted houses have grown brown like the rocks 
which surround them. On the other hand El Ateuf and Ben- 
uisguen are in better preservation, and contain some shops or 
nlag^azines where it is possible to buy European products. Ben- 
uisguen has long been the rival of Gardaia, and that its in- 
habitants still aspire to the chieftainship of the oasis was proved 
by a new wall, which we found then constructing, and which 
affords one instance of the intestine rivalry which has rendered 
every stand against the French abortive. 
Of course I lost no opportunity of taking observations on the 
avifauna of such a little-known district. I Avas particularly struck 
Avith the green Egyptian bee-eaters (J/ero/w supercilio^us.) They 
seemed to affect the graveyards. Two of the handsomest chats 
Avhich I met Avith in the course of my rambles were common 
at this oasis : — Dromolea leitcopygia, the white-rumped rockchat, 
and Dromolea leucocephala, the Avhite-headed rockchat, not so 
There is less fault to find with the sketch and outline, but even supposing 
that the picture does represent the true Falco lanarius of Schlegel, it will 
be found on referring to the accompanying letterpress, that there is no 
reason to su})pose that he either drew or coloured from a specimen killed in 
England . 
