292 
Rev. H. B. Tristram on the 
the mountains and deserts of Africa. Though not breeding in 
communities, the nests are frequently within a few yards of each 
other. It wages an incessant and noisy warfare with the Eagles 
and Kites, who share the Terebinths of the Dayats with it, and 
are seldom the aggressors in these skirmishes. The Raven be¬ 
gins in the Desert to repair his nest in December. 
19. Corvus monedula. (Jackdaw.) 
Extremely abundant wherever there are rocky gorges near an 
oasis. 
20. Pyrrhocorax graculus. (The Chaugh.) 
The Chough is very local, and known to the Arabs by the 
name of “ Ogreeh Hamraiah” the Red Crow. It came under 
my observation only at two very distant points on the edge of the 
Sahara, viz. the cliffs of Bokhari, south of Algiers, and the gorge 
of El Kantara, south-east of Constantine, the key of the Desert 
and the first of the Oases. In both these localities I obtained 
eggs—in 1856 at Bokhari, in 1857 at El Kantara. The Chough 
thus barely gains a claim to be held a bird of the Sahara, not 
penetrating so far south as his rival and persecutor the Jackdaw, 
though in winter he descends beyond Biskra to feed, return¬ 
ing to his cliffs at night. It is interesting to observe one of 
our northern coast birds in a scene so strangely different, and 
bearing a similar relation to the Jackdaw as he does on the 
English cliffs. The Alpine Chough has not yet been observed 
in Algeria. 
21. Pica mauritanica. (Algerian Magpie.) “El Agahg ” 
Arab. 
A few pairs may occasionally be seen in the northern portions 
of the Sahara. In habits it differs not from our Magpie, but is 
a most interesting species, from the singular bare spot which 
extends half an inch behind the eye, and is of a brilliant ultra- 
marine blue in the living bird. The colours are not distributed 
exactly as in our bird, the white on the scapulars being of not 
more than half the extent, while the black on the breast descends 
down to the belly, which alone is white for the space of about 
2 inches; and the bill is more slender and the tarsi longer 
than in the European species. There is a distinction between 
