161 
. Ornithology of Northern Africa. 
When from the denizens of the Tell, or Barbary Proper, we 
direct our attention to the inhabitants of the Desert and its 
oases, a very different result rewards our investigation. Here, 
out of a much more limited Fauna, we find no less than 38 
species whose wings have never borne them across the Medi¬ 
terranean. Unwonted and often uncouth forms meet us with 
scientific names to match (like Rhamphocoris clotbey ), most 
was particularly anxious to find the nest of Anas rujina. He told me he 
had frequently taken the eggs, and had sent as many as forty of * le Grand 
Siffleur Huppe’ to Paris, receiving three francs a piece, tie showed me 
some he had, which bore a striking resemblance to those of A. nyroca 
(a very unmistakeable egg for a duck), which was abundant on the lake; 
while of Anas rujina we never saw but one pair. I assured him of his 
mistake; but he was positive, and showed me a letter desiring him to send 
more of this said e Grand Siffleur Huppe!’ At length one day, as I was 
with him in his boat, a duck rose from its nest; he fired, and brought 
down an Anas rujina; and I found one egg, in the nest, of the lovely pale 
green characteristic of this bird. I exhibited it triumphantly. He turned 
away in disgust, exclaiming, “ Eh bien, c’est une variete extraordinaire! ” 
Soon afterwards I saw eggs of Anas nyroca in Paris marked as rujina; and 
within the last year I have been amused at finding an exactly similar egg 
doing duty for the whistling duck in three British collections; not, how r - 
ever, from Paris, but with inscriptions which told me that at one period of 
their existence—whether at that of their transmutation or not I cannot say 
—they had visited Copenhagen. 
My last adventure with the chasseur was ludicrous enough. He had 
offered me eleven eggs of the Golden Eagle, which he said he got from the 
Arabs, for 100 francs. I wrote to say that if he would bring the eggs, he 
should have the money. In a few days he accordingly appeared at my 
house with a clean-looking sitting of eleven eggs of Meleagris gallopavo, 
var. domestica. I indignantly dismissed him for an impudent rogue, and 
in a few days received a summons to appear in court for breach of contract. 
My chasseur, his turkey eggs, and his avocat were there in due state. 
The avocat produced my letter desiring him to bring ' les oeufs,’ and he 
should have his money. The chasseur swore that these were the eggs 
alluded to, and moreover that they were those of 4 l’Aigle Royal,’ not of 
4 le Dindon.’ I affirmed the contrary. But when doctors differ, who 
shall decide ? And M. le Juge decided that, as a chasseur, who had been 
all his life among birds, was more likely to know an Eagle’s egg than an 
amateur, though certainly they did look to him very like turkey’s, I ought 
to believe the chasseur and take the eggs. On my declaration of an ap¬ 
peal, the prosecutor proposed to settle the affair out of court, which he 
did by fair promises and allowing 50 francs for boat hire. He has since 
transferred his genius to poultry-dealing in Kabylia. 
