401 
1921 .] of Tunisia and Algeria. 
re-crossing the great bed of the Medjerda river, the course 
of which the line follows for a considerable distance ; the 
train gradually ascends until surrounded on all sides by a 
tumbling mass of mountains clothed at the highest points 
with magnificent forests of Cork and Evergreen Oaks. 
I do not know whether any ornithologist has ever worked 
in this country, but I can imagine no more suitable district 
for studying the mountain and forest fauna than that just 
described, particularly when the Tunisian-Algerian boundary 
has been crossed. The stretch of mountain scenery between 
Souk-Ahras (2297 ft.) and Am-Tahamimine (1100 ft.), 
which reaches at Laverdure an altitude of over 2500 ft. with 
mountains of 4150 ft. towering above, is incomparably 
beautiful. Eagles on more than one occasion were seen, 
one bird flying for some distance parallel with the train and 
almost within gunshot of the carriage. Owing to the sun 
I was unable to get a satisfactory view of its plumage, but 
I believe it to have been the Golden Eagle, which is found 
sparingly throughout the northern Atlas Mountains of 
Algeria and generally throughout the more mountainous 
parts of Tunisia. 
The line now gradually descends, and as we neared 
Hammam-Meskoutine the country opened out, olives once 
more clothed the slopes, and in every direction the country 
bore a highly prosperous and luxuriant appearance. 
Hammam-Meskoutine or The Baths of the Petrified, as 
its name implies, from an ancient Arab legend, is charm¬ 
ingly situated from an ornithologisPs point of view. The 
hotel and farm buildings are almost the only houses in sight. 
In the pretty courtyard, round which the hotel is built, 
palms, orange and lemon trees are the haunt of numerous 
Dusky Bulbuls (Pycnonotus barbatus barbatus ), the first we 
had met with. Bedbreasts (Eritliacus rubecula subsp. ?) 
hopped about under the shade of the trees, a Grey Wagtail 
(.Motacilla cinerea cinerea) frequented the irrigation stream, 
and innumerable Sparrows filled the air with their noisy 
chatter. Lord Bothschild and Dr. Hartert paid particular 
attention to the Sparrows at Hammam-Meskoutine and 
