402 
Mr. D. A. Bannerman : First Impressions [Ibis, 
collected a large series here. Typical examples of both 
Passer hispaniolensis hispaniolensis and P. domesticus tingi- 
tanus were obtained by them, and their remarks on the 
intergrading of these two forms as observed at Hammam- 
Meskoutine will be found in Nov. Zool. xviii. 1912, p. 480. 
I had the advantage of having a copy of this paper with me, 
and with the aid of my powerful field-glasses was able to 
match from live birds under my observation quite a number 
of the Sparrows' heads depicted in PI. xi. of the paper cited. 
The Redbreasts puzzled me somewhat. They appeared very 
pale-breasted, bat then I am used to watching the fine 
Erithacus rubecula superbus of certain of the Canary Islands, 
with its rich coloured breast. Mr. Jourdain believed that 
most of the Robins which Mr. Wallis met with at Hammam- 
Meskoutine in 1910 were migrants from Europe. Dr. 
Hartert, in addition to many typical specimens, shot an 
example of E. r. witherbyi at this place in February 1911. 
I confess I am unable to tell this race apart in life. 
So many ornithologists have worked in this district that 
the birds of the neighbourhood are now comparatively well 
known. A short description of the surrounding country 
may, however, be of interest to those who have not seen it 
for themselves. Hammam-Meskoutine lies in the northern 
Atlas range at a height of 1312 ft. In the vicinity of the 
hotel the country is very open, and in February wonderfully 
green, the wide valleys are everywhere sown with corn, the 
lower hill-slopes covered with grass for grazing or planted 
with olive-trees, which in some directions cover the hillsides 
as far as the eye can reach. Hot springs bubble up in many 
places, and the water, which issues from the ground at a 
temperature of 205° F., finds' its way through a tangle of 
luxuriant vegetation down the bed of the valley, its course 
clearly visible by the constantly rising steam. Great clumps 
of palm-trees grow luxuriantly in these valleys, their presence 
appearing somewhat incongruous in this typically park-like 
landscape (Plate II. fig. 1). On all sides mountains rise 
in the distance, covered closely with scrub four or five feet 
in height, or else bare save for the scant coarse grass which 
