174 Mr. 0. Salving Five Months’ Birds’-nesting 
truth in the statement, that the Great Auk {Alea impennis, L.) 
has ever occurred so far to the north; but we have since learned 
that the Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius, Bp.) has been 
obtained; and it is probable that the King Duck ( Somateria 
spectabilis, Leach), the Long-tailed Duck (. Harelda glacialis, 
Leach), the Great Northern Diver ( Colymbus glacialis , L.), and, 
in small numbers, the Common Guillemot ( Uria troile , Lath.) 
may sometimes be found in Spitzbergen. With these additions, 
the list of the birds we saw most likely comprises all the 
feathered denizens of this solitary land. 
XIX.— Five Months’ Birds’-nesting in the Eastern Atlas. 
By Osbert Salvin, Corr. Memb. Zool. Soc. (Part I.) 
(Plate VI.) 
As Mr. Tristram has undertaken to furnish a complete account 
of the birds of Algeria, in which he will enter at length into a 
general description of the physical geography of that country, 
as exercising an influence on its ornithology, I merely in this 
article propose, as supplementary to Mr. Tristram's more sy¬ 
stematic details, to give a short account of those birds which 
actually came under my own observation during the time I 
accompanied that gentleman and Mr. W. H. Simpson in their 
rambles through the Regency of Tunis and Eastern Algeria. 
The five months referred to above comprised part of February, 
March, April, May, June, and part of July in the year 1857; 
and though the first five or six weeks were not actually devoted 
to birds'-nesting, yet the time was spent in making inquiries 
about breeding-localities, and preparations for our journey; so 
that the whole period may be said to bear reference to the one 
object of the expedition. 
The city of Tunis was our head-quarters while in the Regency, 
from which we made excursions to various parts, to Carthage 
and Oudena in the immediate vicinity, to Sousa and El Djem 
in the south, and to Bizerta in the north. None of these excur¬ 
sions were productive of much, ornithologically speaking. Those 
birds that were observed will be mentioned in the subjoined list. 
A month was spent in this way, after which we finally started 
