417 
Ornithology of Northern Africa. 
bird I ever saw, and which can scarcely be described on paper. 
In the eastern province we obtained several nests as far north as 
Batna. 
47. Dandalus rubecula. (Robin.) A winter visitant to 
the oases. 
48. Curruca atricapilla. (Black Cap.) 
49. Curruca hortensis. (Garden Warbler.) 
50. Curruca orphea. (Orphean Warbler.) 
51. Sylvia curruca. (Lesser Whitethroat.) 
52. Sylvia cinerea. (Whitethroat.) 
All these five Warblers are common winter residents in the 
oases, and among the bushes of the ravines. 
53. Sylvia conspicillata. (Spectacled Warbler.) “M’zil y ” 
Arab. 
The common and characteristic Warbler of the whole Sahara. 
Everywhere it appears to be a constant resident, resorting 
to the open grounds, where it haunts the small bushes and 
Static# , living indifferently on the salt marshes or on the 
more exposed and bleak plateaux. It does not appear ever to 
resort either to the oases or the dayats, and so far differs in its 
habits from all its congeners. Affecting no concealment, it hops 
in front of its pursuer from bush to bush, searching for small 
beetles among the roots of each. More than one or two are 
never seen together, but it is impossible to ride far without de¬ 
tecting it. In the spring of 1857, we found many nests placed 
about a foot from the ground in the centre of small low bushes 
in the north-eastern plains near the Nememcha country north 
of Biskra. The nest is deep, very artistically constructed, and 
contains four or five eggs, not larger than those of the Willow 
Wren, and much resembling the paler varieties of the White- 
throat's. I never observed any with the dark spots which are 
general on the latter. 
54. Sylvia deserticola*, Tristram, Ibis, 1859, p. 58. 
(Desert Warbler.) 
Bound only in the southern portion of the Desert, where it 
* Stoparola deserti, Loche, Rev. Zool. 1858, p. 394 pi. 11. fig. 1 (fig. 
pess.).—E d. 
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