St re te esate pe Tae Pie hp ceshaoae ee otal ta Feats Pca i pesca mm pM ah seem ahs iS Bs esr Aare hi teeing ri nes acd ts Feet tes fect Paecai hs may Neos Se ss Sy oer a of ee Le pekianteald ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY CORNET VERSITY DATE DUE iT RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST IN EGYPT & OTHER COUNTRIES. Aambles of x Naturalist IN EGYPT & OTHER COUNTRIES. WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE CLAIMS OF CERTAIN FOREIGN BIRDS TO BE CONSIDERED BRITISH, AND OTHER ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. BY J. H. GURNEY, Joun., F.Z.S. LONDON: JARROLD AND SONS, 3, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS. EV, PREFACE. Doo GX— IN the following pages I have endeavoured to describe truthfully the incidents of sundry journeys undertaken in the last half-dozen years, more or less with a view to the prosecution of my favourite study—Ornithology—which is fast striding after its sister sciences in the public favour. If I may presume to think that anything I have written can in any degree help to render Ornithology more popular, I shall be amply repaid for the labour and trouble which it has cost me. I have added a statement, which may not be wholly without interest, of the claims of certain rare species of birds to be included in the British list. The present plan of placing such stragglers on a level with our native species is to be reprobated; at the same time it is not easy to know what to do with them. They clearly cannot be passed over, for they are too important. The proper course is to submit them to a close scrutiny, and insert such as pass the ordeal in small type, or by indenting them, or some other means make it plain that they are not to be on the same footing with our indigenous species. vi PREFACE. It is impossible to write a book which is entirely free from error, but I have done my best to make my lucubra- tions accurate, and I commit them to the public, trusting that my readers will look leniently on mistakes should they find any. I can only say, may they prove to be few and far between; and in conclusion, let me remark that I have had the assistance of my father, so that the work has had the advantage of a double supervision. J. H. G, Jun. CONTENTS. To Russia AND Back My JouRNAL IN THE ALGERIAN SAHARA NOTES DURING THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR Six Montus’ Birp CoLLecTING IN Ecypt PassInG NOTES ON THE BirpDs OF ITALY ANALYSIS OF THE CLAIMS OF CERTAIN BIRDS TO BE ACCOUNTED BRITISH ADDITIONS TO THE AVIFAUNA OF DURHAM NETTING SEA-BIRDS ON THE WASH - SHorT Notes oN BriTIsH BIRDS GIBRALTAR PAGE 21 63 84 244 249 273 280 283 294 TO RUSSIA AND BACK, With an Account of the Birds to be met with at the principal Markets, and a few Notes on the Museums and Zoological Gardens. —->—— AT 6.15 p.m.,on the 11th of August, 1869, the “Ranger” left her moorings below London Bridge, and steamed rapidly down the Thames. It was a finer night than the weather had given any promise of, and I amused myself with standing on deck and watching the docks, and fields and houses, passing in a continually changing panorama, and a small flock of Gulls* lazily flapping over the water, until the waning twilight made it too dark to see. By day-break next morning we were at Gravesend, where the river is a considerable breadth, and plenty of shipping dotted about presented an animated scene. Here the river- pilot and the officer of customs wished us a prosperous voyage, and went ashore in the boat which brought the captain. . * In the autumn of 1871, I sent to the Zoological Gardens a Herring Gull which had strayed as far as Kentish*Town, by which time it had got exhausted, and afforded a fine Sunday’s amusement to sundry “loafers” who ran it down and captured it. This fellow had a fine appetite, and easily managed three herrings at a meal. B 2 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. When off Harwich’ great quantities of wasp-like insects (Syrphid@), and a good many Lady-birds, and a few Butterflies came on board, I thought at the time it might have been in consequence of the sugar which formed part of the cargo; but it seems, according to the Times newspaper, that on the same day a marvellous flight of Lady-birds arrived at Ramsgate, where they were shovelled up by spadefuls; and on the 24th of the pre- ceding month, a yacht off Hunstanton passed through a black stripe in the water two or three miles in length, all composed of defunct Lady-birds. (Norfolk Naturalist’s Society, 1869, p. 62.) We sighted Denmark on the 15th of August. When still many miles from shore a common Dunlin (Tringa alpina L.) en trazet, flew on board, was speedily caught, and is now in my collection. I could by this time see that the coast presented a succession of islands, good places for birds I dare say, and no doubt inhabited by a fishing population, whose one-storied and black-roofed houses were plainly visible. On the 16th we were steaming slowly up the Kattegat, with Denmark on our right and the bold coast of Sweden on our left. The sky was cloudless. The chop- ping waves of the North Sea were exchanged for the calmness of the “Narrows.” Three formidable forts bar the entrance to Copenhagen—vouchers that the Danes will show their teeth to any second Nelson who shall try to ride in their harbour. The Captain allowed an hour anda quarter, and no more, for walking about the place. The houses look old, but many of the edifices are large, and must have been grand a century ago. In that short time I could not find the regular birdstuffer, but I noticed in a shop window two Goshawks, an old one and a young one. Swallows, Swifts, and Martins were flying about, as wel- come and as much at home as in every town in England. There is one hour difference between Copenhagen time TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 3 and that of London. After setting our watches right, we steamed off again and passed to the north of the island of Bornholm, and near to the unpronounceable place called Utkhipporna. No view to be obtained of the Prussian coast at any time. The following morning, a little before 7 a.m. when the “Ranger” had passed the island of CEland—visited for egging purposes by Messrs. Wolley and Huddleston in 1866—and was off Gottland, on the Swedish side of the Baltic—weather thick and inclined to rain—several Inses- sorial birds alighted on the rigging. With them was a Hawk, which, according to the report of the man at the helm, was so exhausted that it fell into the sea, When I came on deck, the only bird which remained was a Phyllopneuste—I believe P. trochilus (L.). It was joined by another, ap- parently of the same species, somewhat later in the day. At 2.45 a female Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla L.) settled on the ship, which I got a good view of by creeping along under the bulwarks. There was no wind at that time. It had no sooner left us than one of the boys caught a bird which had been about, I believe, all the morning, and which proved to be a Red-backed Shrike. Doubtless these feathered pilgrims were but the vanguard of the great autumnal tide of migration. They must have come from the immense firwoods which skirt the Swedish shore, and extend into the interior. The author of a “ Note Book ofa _ Naturalist” mentions, (p. 64) that when he was sailing near the same place, a Long-tailed Titmouse came on board, which is far more remarkable than any of the birds T saw. As evening drew on, the sea, which before was calm as glass, began to be gently rippled by a passing wind. Quickly the sails felt the breeze. Quickly our good ship ploughed her way onwards, and as she went she left behind her a broad wake of foam, on which there fell the 4 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. rays of ared setting sun in most transcendent splendour. Gradually we left CEland in the distance, but the sun had illumined the vault of heaven, and there remained a glittering pathway over the waters of the Baltic for many hours, until night shrouded the scene. On that occasion I observed a ship in the ball of the sun, as he dipped to his rest below the horizon. The day following we entered the Gulf of Finland. On the 20th, when off Hogland island, a Kestrel (Tinnunculus alaudarius) paid us a visit, which was the only other bird we saw, for the same evening we anchored outside the bristling batteries of Cronstadt. Thousands of half-wild Pigeons were swarming about the harbour, and I recognised my old friend the Grey Crow, (Corvus cornix L.) not often to be seen in our country in August, but here in Russia they are stay-at-home birds, and probably do not migrate at all. Their tameness at St. Petersburg would shock Alexander Selkirk. They stalk about the streets with the air of a landed proprietor, who is kindly permitting the wood merchants to pile their timber on his wharf. It is said they have been even known to seize the sacred Pigeons! The city of St. Petersburgh is built almost entirely upon piles. Nevertheless, it is on such a low bad site, that if Lake Laddga overflowed, and a certain conjunction of wind and tide took place, it would infallibly be swamped; and a good many people expect that this will happen some day. The finest edifice is the Isaac Cathedral, beyond all question. It is in the form of a Greek cross. Its grand simplicity is very effective. Hemmed in by no houses like our St. Paul’s, yet with all the finest buildings in the capital grouped around it, its noble porticos, its colossal proportions free from all meretricious ornament, and its vast gilded dome tower up into the air. It is surmounted TO RUSSIA AND BACK, 5 by a cross, which may serve the newly-arrived stranger as a landmark from all parts of the city. Pigeons make it their home, semi-wild ones of domestic origin, like those which in London frequent the British Museum, the Houses of Parliament, and Somerset House. Crowds of House Martins had gathered on the Winter Palace. The pert Jackdaw was also there, and the ever-present Sparrow, the same as in England. Those who are not pressed for time when they have done the principal sights, not forgetting the Hermitage and Peter the Great’s House, ought to take steamer to Peterhof Palace. One of the rooms is panelled from skirting-board to ceiling with 368 portraits of girls, all selected for their beauty; besides this singular collection there are other things in the palace worth seeing. A fire had just taken place at this suburb when J was there, and nearly two acres of houses had been burnt down, but the Russians are too much accustomed to this sort of thing to think much of two acres of wooden houses. Great precautions are taken in the city by building lofty watch-towers, from which, by means of a.system of hoisting balls, alarm can be given in case of fire. The, streets are spacious but badly paved; they are covered with snow half the year, and I suppose the in- habitants do not think it worth while paving them any better. Many of them are of wood, which is delightfully easy to drive on in your “droski” when new, but wears out very soon, without an upper coating of asphalt. They are well lighted with gas, and there is nothing prettier than to lean on the parapet of St. Nicholas’ Bridge, and look up the river at the two long rows of lamps reflected in the water. There is a garden on the Vassili Ostrof which is used in summer as a market for live birds, rabbits, snakes, lizards, tortoises, shells, etc. Here I saw, besides sundry birds 6 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. which appeared to have been imported from other countries, Skylarks, young Starlings, the Marsh Titmouse, to which De Selys gave the name Paras borealis, Bullfinches (. Pyrr- hula europea, Leach), Blue-throated Warblers, and Black- caps: and in gunmakers’ windows, stuffed specimens of the Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Eagle Owl,* Snowy Owl, Black-throated Diver, Shelduck, and Curlew. Not far from the Millionaya Street there is a small game market, and at one shop a Whooper or Wild Swan, and a Nutcrackert (Nucifraga caryocatactes L.), were hanging up. An attempt had been made to stuff them, so I dare say they had been suspended there all the summer. Shooting commences on the 15th (27th) of July, but Capercaillie are not in season so early as that. A freshly- killed young bird is of course far superior to what are brought over and vended in Leadenhall market. Old ones would hardly be considered fit to eat in Russia. The Teterka (Blackgrouse), and Riabchick (Hazelgrouse), are also capital birds for the table. It is said that considerable numbers of the Grey Partridge (Perdix cinerea Lath.) have been turned off in the vicinity of the metropolis. There are a great many stories about the Capercaillie ; one is that after death it swallows its tongue. Like many other fables it is founded on fact; for the organ is sometimes retracted so far as to become quite invisible.f * J find that in a tame Eagle Owl of ours, when exhausted with long incubation, the pupils of the eyes become almost white. I also find that the iris in this species becomes very much lighter with age. + The middle tail feathers are so abraded at the end in a Nutcracker of mine, killed at Christchurch in Hampshire, as to leave the shafts almost bare, and they are worn in the same way in a specimen of my father’s, killed at Rollesby in Norfolk. + The number of Scotch Capercaillie sent up to Leadenhall Market is very large, perhaps 200 in a winter, exernplifying the remarkable hold which this species has again taken in North Britain, particularly in TO RUSSIA AND BACK, 7 I must now say something of the Museum, which is at the Academy of Sciences (between the Exchange and the University), and contains the famous Mammoth, whose unfossilized remains were found embedded in ice on the banks of the Lena. Professor Brandt was away, but I was glad to meet Dr. Radde, who drew attention to his Fuligula baeri, which would appear to be one of those puzzling hybrid Ducks, (Reisen im Siiden von Ost-Sibirien in den Jahren 1855—1859, p. 376,) and to the beautiful specimens of Anas falcata and A. glocitans, which latter is the species to which by English authors some hybrids were incorrectly assigned under the name of “Bimaculated Duck.” I also especially noticed no less than twenty varieties of the Blackgrouse, and several of the Capercaillie, also both sexes of the spurious Rakkelhan Grouse (Tetrao medius (Meyer) Tem.), the female of which appears to be exactly like a small female Capercaillie. Another handsome cross is that between the Black Grouse and Willow Grouse, of which I afterwards saw several, but did not succeed in obtaining a specimen. I had hoped to find a good series of the Red-breasted Goose, but I only saw four; one of them a plain grey bird without a particle of red was marked a female, doubtless immature. The collection of Brazilian species is large; but not being well up in South American birds, I directed my attention to the specimen of the Great Auk. I found that there was no egg of this bird in the Museum, but Professor Newton had told me that he believed there were two in the city, and I set on foot enquiries, but without any result beyond learning that Mr. Champley of Scarborough had been making enquiries before me. Perthshire. They come earlier and are smaller than the Norwegian, and may be known by having been shot. Numbers are also sent to the Glasgow poulterers, according to Mr. Gray. (B. of Scotland, p. 228.) 8 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. I passed some birds in the ante-room recently set up, which I rather think were from Finland. They were the Curlew Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Swifts, etc. Also a Short-eared Owl just brought in and skinned, and a Hen Harrier, which was no doubt killed in the environs. There were specimens of both in the collection marked St. Petersburgh. In another ante-room there was an artist at work painting a Ruff, with Gould’s “Birds of Europe” to help him. I must not omit to mention seeing some eggs of the Waxen Chatterer,* with the following testimony to an Englishman’s perseverance :— “In memoriam Johannis Wolley, quem in regionibus Europe, hyperboreis naturce arcanorum per multos annos studiosum, fames, frigus, bellum, non deterrerunt, hcec ampelidis garrulce ova musceo.” On the 3rd I saw the Zoological Gardens, and bought a curious muff made of nine necks of Black-throated Divers in their fullest plumage. The gardens are really very poor for a great place like St. Petersburgh. They are a private undertaking, and the property of a lady. Wild’ Tree Sparrows were flying in and out among the bushes. By the Rumiantsoff Obelisk I saw a Greater Whitethroat (?). Going again to the Museum, the taxidermist, Monsieur Wosnessensky, showed me a Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivo- rus, L.) just set up. I likewise saw a couple of young Cranes, which had been reared by hand. They were a yellowish brown colour; the crown of the head not bare; the iris dark. Before going away I paid my respects to another live- bird market, where I saw Redwings, Redstarts, Snow © The Waxen Chatterer goes as far south as Algeria. Professor Newton, in his fourth edition of Yarrell, “B. B.,” says indeed that it does not cross the Mediterranean, but both he and Mr. Dresser must have overlooked what Loche says :—“De passage en Algérie de loin en loin.” (Cat. des Mammiferes, etc., p. 88.) TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 9 Buntings, Pine Grosbeaks, an Oxeye Titmouse, a Long- tailed Titmouse, a Pied Flycatcher, and five Storks. I bought a Sparrowhawk* and a Cuckoo, which I skinned the following day, together with an Oystercatcher, which an English resident had shot on lake Ladoga. From its brown back, and from the edgings to the feathers, I have no doubt that it is a bird of the year. On the 8th of September I travelled by a second-class carriage to Moscow. I thought it much more comfortable than an English first-class, and a perfect banquet was pro- vided at the stations where we stopped for refreshment. The only birds seen on the way were a few Wood Pigeonst and Magpies, a Rook, and an old Buzzard perched upon a pole. I was unfortunately just too late for a meeting of Zoolo- gists and scientific men, in which I might have heard some interesting questions discussed. As soon as I arrived I hastened to the live-bird market, where I found for sale the Common Sandpiper, Hawfinch, Crested Titmouse and Shorelark; and the next day at some other shops outside the wall of the “Kitai Gorod,” a Golden Oriole, a Missel Thrush, and a Raven; and in the game market the following dead birds—Goshawk (in an interesting state of change), Capercaillie, Hazel Grouse, * On the 31st of August, 1873, a young cock Sparrowhawk was made a prisoner in our bantam-house, having dashed through the top netting, of which the mesh is only two and a half inches in diameter. It must have been a squeeze, but he could have come in no other way. + November 2oth, 1871, a gamekeeper in Norfolk drew my attention to a Silver-fir tree with two leaders, near to a Pheasant-feeder, (a wooden contrivance for corn,) remarking that he knew this deformity and many others like it to have been caused by Wood Pigeons coming after the corn, and settling on the tops of the trees when they were young and breaking them thus. tO RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. Willow Grouse* (in part summer plumage), Double Snipes, and Teal. While I was examining them, a fine Buzzard soared about overhead on the look-out for anything he could pick up. I soon afterwards saw some more, circling at no great height. I have understood that they propagate as well as roost in the steeples and minarets; and that besides clearing up all kinds of refuse, as the scavenger Kite once did in London, they make prey of the Pigeons which infest Moscow. Pigeons are never shot in the town; they roost and nidify in the Kremlin’s gilded cupolas, and are very com- mon throughout the city. Of course I visited the Zoological Gardens of the Imperial Acclimatisation Society, which are prettily laid out, and with a fine sheet of water. I was informed that the animals had fallen off, but there still remained a fine collection, in- cluding upwards of twenty Eagles, and a similar number of Ruddy Shelducks, also one or more of the following species —Caucasian Snow-Partridge, Great Bustard, Coot, Black- tailed Godwit, Green Sandpiper, Capercaillie, Snipe, and Common Sandpiper; altogether there were sixty-five sorts of birds in the Gardens, and the collection was very superior to that at St. Petersburgh. On the 12th, after glancing over the bird market, where I noticed a Nutcracker, an albinoe Quail, and a Waxwing, I drove with a friend to the famous Sparrow Hills, whence Napoleon first viewed the city. It was a noble stand-point, almost equal to Arthur's seat at Edinburgh. “All this is yours,” he is said to have exclaimed, and the shout of ® Mr. Yarrell, in 1843, gives the price of Ptarmigan at four shillings a brace, (B. B., 11., p. 327,) but does not say if they were Scotch Ptarmigan or Norway Willow Grouse. The latter is far and away the commoner in Leadenhall market. The price has gone up since his time, Scotch Ptarmigan being twelve and sixpence a brace in October, and Norway Willow Grouse six shillings. TO RUSSIA AND BACK. Il “Moscow! Moscow!” was taken up by the foremost ranks and carried to the rear of his army. On the 13th I got a Spotted Crake, a Sclavonian Grebe, and a young Ruff;* and took a peep into the celebrated Riding-school, 560 feet in length, supposed to be the largest room in the world. Here in the winter two regiments of Russian cavalry can manceuvre at the same time, when the intense cold does not permit of their going through their exercises out of doors. I had failed in seeing the birdstuffer at St. Petersburgh, M. Dode, though I made his acquaintance in London in the spring of 1871, but I was more fortunate at Moscow. Taxidermy is not a lucrative trade there, and I cannot say much for the way in which a Dipper and a Little Gull were mounted. The latter was in very complete nuptial plumage, and I believe they breed near Moscow. On the 14th I bought a Garganey Teal and a Nyroca Duck. For the latter I was charged one hundred “ copeks,” equivalent to a “rouble” or three shillings in English money. Afterwards the birdstuffer’s wife came to me with the following birds—White-breasted Nuthatch (Sztta europea, Lin.), Jay, Golden-crested Wren, Chaffinch, Thrush, Willow Wren, Crested Titmouse, Marsh Titmouse (Parus borealis ), and Blue Titmouse. The latter was a remarkably pale light-coloured specimen, but several of the best Ornitholo- gists to whom I have shown it consider it to be merely a variety. September 15th.—A Shoveller Duck at the market. 16th—A very wet day. Picked out from among a lot of other wild-fowl a nestling Nyroca Duck, not half fledged. The market is a famous place for Double Snipes; basketsful * In 1871, in the early part of the summer, I am informed a drove of sixty old Ruffs were seen at Hickling Broad (in Norfolk), yet there were only two nests, I hear, and, sad to say, the eight young birds were all shot. 12 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. of them are brought in every morning. They are very greasy but delicious eating. 17th—At the market, Corncrake, Tufted Ducks, Pintail Ducks, Blackbird, Thrush, and Golden Plover. I bought a Common Snipe, which had the outer tail feathers elongated. Compared to the Double Snipe it is quite a rarity. 20th.—I got a Smew before breakfast, and in the evening the birdstuffer’s wife brought a Jack Snipe, a Brambling, two Siskins, a Whinchat, a Skylark, two Spotted Crakes, a Jay, anda Cuckoo. This Cuckoo, and the one I obtained at St. Petersburgh, were most curious specimens. Both were immature. In the first one the peculiarity consisted ina broad mark of reddish brown like a stain all down the head and back, and two others similar upon the wings. In the second the wings and all the upper surface were mealy- colored.* 21st.—Paid a final visit to the market and got a drake Gadwall. I had been led to expect great things from the Russian markets. Waxwings and Pine Grosbeaks were to be had for a few “copecks” I was told, and heaps of other rare birds; but this can only apply to the winter, when I have no doubt they would vie with any in Europe. I must not omit to say that the Zoological Cabinet at the University is particularly worth seeing, containing as it does no less than 73,638 specimens. The birds are fairly stuffed and in good order. I saw a beautiful skin of the rare Red- breasted Goose, and a mounted one which was not so good. One case was full of bottles of various sizes. Each bottle contained a card on which was gummed a bird’s gizzard and its contents—gnats, flies, beetles, etc. The Rook, being of special importance to agriculture, the stomachs of no less © The Cuckoo has been stated to have a pouch, but I have not succeeded in finding it, though I have remarked the very gelatinous skin of the neck in some specimens. TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 13 than eight were displayed. The preparations were really very neat, and each had a separate label. In the Interna- tional Exhibition of 1862, there was a very similar series of the dried contents of the gizzards of the chief birds of France. The University was founded by Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. There are seventy-five professors, and the library contains about 160,000 books. The line of railway which connects the two chief cities of Russia is straight as an arrow. The story goes, that the Tzar took a ruler and drew a line across the map, and said to the government engineer, “That is how the railway is to go.” He made it accordingly, and it is 403 miles long. On re-visiting the live-bird stalls at St. Petersburgh I saw pretty much the same species as before, and a few additional ones, to wit, the Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Creeper, and Lapwing. In a poulterer’s window I saw a stuffed Blackcock most beautifully pied, and a hybrid be- tween that species and the Willow Grouse. I purchased a Green Woodpecker and a Goldeneye Duck, and tried to skin them, but the Woodpecker was almost too stale for the purpose. It is difficult to see what birds the poulterers have, for they keep them shut up in lockers instead of hang- ing them out. On the 24th I saw a Waxwing at the Exchange Gardens for sale, and bought a Missel Thrush. On the 25th I dropped on to some fresh birds at the market, three Little Stints, a Dunlin, a Ring-Dotterel (Charadrius intermedius), and a young Grey Plover, which was so yellow that but for its black axillaries it might have passed for a Golden. The close of the month was wet, and I was not sorry to leave on the 28th of September, after collecting fifty-nine birds, a considerable number for so short a time. St. Petersburgh is wonderfully hot in summer, considering how far north it is; but the climate appears to suit the English, 14 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. who muster plentifully there; though indeed where are not our countrymen to be found ? By train to Berlin was about the longest journey without a break I ever made, occupying nearly forty-two hours ; and so sparsely furnished with birds was the tract through which we passed, that I saw nothing worth recording. The Zoological Gardens at Berlin are not equal to ours at London, though I think the grounds are larger. The Society is well off in Accipdtres, and a pen of fifteen Little Egrets and Squacco Herons was a beautiful sight — Monday, 25th of Fanuary, 1870, A SWARM of low-class Arabs and swarthy negroes pounced upon me as I stepped on to the quay at Oran, and bade me yield my luggage to their care. Pestered with their importunities I fled to the custom house, and while my cases were undergoing a nominal examination, the official in charge drove back the exasperated crowd of mendicant porters, until I could select two less frantic than the rest, to carry my baggage up to the hotel. It was a lovely day. Oran, the westernmost town in Algeria, a French seaport and chief place of the province, lay spread before me. It is no inconsiderable place, having a population half as large as that of Algiers, two hotels, a theatre, a place, a market, and sundry large bureaus; but it is not much visited by tourists. In this instance it appeared that there were some English there already, for a party of sportsmen who, I heard belonged to our nationality, had been out shooting, and had just brought back three wild boars: stretched upon the pavement they lay with bullet holes in their rugged sides. There is no lack of them in the brushwood on the 22 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. mountains, but the sport is considered expensive, owing to the number of beaters required. After duly inspecting them, I remembered that I had come to Africa to study birds; and all athirst for unknown species, I ascended to Fort St. Croix. Having satisfactorily identified some Dartford Warblers, (Melizophilus undatus) whose flight was very weak, especially if there was any wind, I worked my way home by another path, noting as I went along the Kestrel (7innunculus alaudarius), the Black-headed Warbler (Sylvia melano- cephala), the Corn Bunting (Emberiza miliaria), the Wren (Troglodytes parvulus), and the Grey Wagtail (Motacilla sulphurea, Bech.), flirting about by a ditch of water. Other birds I saw in the distance, but enough had been identified to show that the avifauna of Algeria was not so very different from that of England; however, on the hillside I listened to a truly African bird (as I believe), the Dusky Ixos (Los obscurus). Its notes rang through the newly- planted pine groves. There were three in the market, which confirms my impression that the bird I heard was the Ixos, It is said to have occurred in Britain. It is very sombre coloured. I made notes of two species not in- cluded in the late Mr. Drake’s “ Birds of Eastern Morocco,” (Ibis, 2nd series, III., p. 142,—V., p. 147,) the irrepressible Sparrow (Passer domesticus), which I thought I had left behind me in England, and the Barbary Partridge (Caccabis petrosa), which flies fast and straight with neck outstretched, making as much noise with its wings as our grey one when flushed, and giving utterance to a shrill note or two. I was surprised to see some in the town with their throats ot cut, which the Arabs generally insist upon doing, for your true Mahommedan conceives himself forbidden by the direct law of the prophet to eat anything which has not died by the knife. I afterwards got eleven eggs of this Partridge. There was a steamer to Algiers on the 28th, a distance of THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 23 about 250 miles, which I preferred to travelling over land. It was aclear day and a calm sea, and we coasted along near enough to observe the verdant hills, in some places sparsely covered, in others clothed with rich foliage. I stood on deck watching some Manx Shearwaters, until the blue bay of Algiers came in sight, and we cast anchor at a short distance from the boulevards, constructed for the French government by Sir Morton Peto. Algiers is one of those places which have been so much written about, that nothing more remains to be said. Piesse’s “Itinéraire de l'Algerie,” and Bernard’s “Indicateur de l’Algerie,” give a sufficiently good account of it, and to them I refer the reader. An astonishing number of English make it their winter quarters, the climate being recommended in cases of consumption and lung disease; and some of them hire houses, and have delightful gardens, in the suburb of Mustapha. The Moorish part of the town is highly interest- ing, while the French part can boast of capital hotels (the Hotel d’Orient is perhaps the best,) and a great number of first-class shops. There is very good society, and plenty to see in the neighbourhood for those who do not go further into the interior. I copy the following extracts from some correspondence in the “ Fvedd,” which may be of use to anyone intending to go there. “ Houses can be obtained in the suburbs at 420 to £40 per month furnished, and the owners let them generally only for the season of six months, and not for a less period. English furniture would be useless here, or at any rate quite incongruous. The houses, moreover, are let furnished. There are no dependable house agents. It isa good plan to come here early, perhaps in the beginning of October, and stop at an hotel until a selection of a house can be made. There are doctors of all nations in the season. Horses can be bought at all prices, from £48 to £120. The best horses that can be bought (for the Arabs will not sell 4 24 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. their best) are to be had for 3,000 francs; any higher price that may be paid is money thrown away. Very fair horses may be hired at £5 per month, the livery-stableman keeping them and providing saddles and bridles. Good servants are very difficult to obtain, especially for short periods. A thorough good cook earns nearly at the rate of £30 per annum. W.P.B. (Algiers, April oth, 1873.) “For asportsman Algiers, or rather its vicinity, affords excellent shooting; Snipe and Duck, golden and grey [?] Plover, being the principal winter game; and in spring great quantity of Quail can be got. I remember killing ten brace of Quail in a few hours. * * * * * * “Within two days’ journey of Algiers there is a large lake called Lac Alloula, where capital sport can be had. It is covered with wild duck in the winter with a good supply of geese and wild swans, and the margin of the lake is full of Snipe—a friend and myself killing forty couple of Snipe and several Bittern in a few hours. * * * * * * Waverley. (Oct. 21st, 1872.) For a graphic account of this lake, and the ornithological treasures to be had there, see the “Ibis” for 1860, p. 149. I procured from Madame Loche (the widow of the dis- tinguished ornithologist) a Golden Eagle (Aguila chrysaetos), which had been killed at Arba, twenty miles distant from Algiers, about three months before. I also saw another alive. Captain Loche had several, but they, with other Accipitres to the number of 180, perished in the following manner. An earthquake occasioned the fall of an immense wall, beneath which was the “fauconnerie,” and alas! it buried in its debris the precious birds which it had taken the Captain ten years to collect. The adventures I had in getting a “permis de chasse” were quite as amazing as Canon Tristram’s. It did not cost so much as an English game license, but the number of officials whose signatures were necessary was something THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 25 awful. The ‘mayor did me the honour to write “ my descrip- tion.” From him I obtained the gratifying information that my hair was chestnut, my nose regular, my beard fair, my chin short, my eyes brown, and my complexion red!! The next day I left early for Mustapha to explore the lanes there. This beautiful suburb is the Richmond of Algiers, and the favoured resort of the best families. My first shot was at a female Black-headed Warbler. Instead of slate colour as in the cock, the back was brown, and the head no darker than a Lesser Whitethroat’s. Males of this species would appear to preponderate. After crossing several fields, and losing a specimen of Chlorospiza aurantitventris, the interesting Algerian representative of our Greenfinch,* from which it can scarcely be said to be distinct, I came to a wooded valley, where I had a couple of shots at an Ichneuman. I missed him, and never had a chance of getting another. Here I fell in with a Serin (Serinus hortulorum), singing merrily even then, at a period when winter had hushed for a time the notes of most of its congeners. One of the rarer British birds, it may be dis- tinguished ata glance from the hen Siskin, the only one on the list with which it could be confounded, by its thicker beak. Trying to scramble up some sandrocks I disturbed a dozing Barn Owl, which, being brought to bag, proved a very spotted specimen, with the bars of the tail more defined than in English examples. The next bird was a Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus), not an uncommon species in Algeria. Then leaving the valley I gradually worked my way home by the sea shore, and the only bird I procured was the White Wagtail (J7otactlla alba), but the blue bay beneath me, and the transcendent scene, made up for the small bag, and I returned well satisfied with my walk. ® In the summer of 1871, I saw an Algerian Greenfinch in the Zoological Gardens, supposed to be eight years old. 26 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. February 3rd. Bought a cock Sandgrouse (Pterocles arenarius, Pall.) at the poulterer's, killed at Aumale, and went to the “Exposition,” which is in one of the arches below the “Place du Government.” M. Loche’s birds are nicely set up and arranged, but the space devoted to them is not very large. The rest of his collection of skins is now dispersed. I saw his eggs at No. 9, Rue Marine, which are very good indeed. There were several drawers of duplicates, February 6th. Observed a curious pale-coloured variety of the Robin in the market, and also a slightly pied Black- bird. A short time ago I read of a single taxidermist having twenty-nine pied Blackbirds to stuff in about a twelvemonth in Ireland. Surely they are as common there as pied Ring Ouzels are in Alsace and Lorraine. I have never had more than one or two since I began to collect birds. February 7th, Sunday. Attended service in one of the arches beneath the “ Boulevards.” The large congregation showed how much need there was for the English Protestant Church, a site for which had been found not far from the Eastern gate, and which was already near completion. I began the new week at Blida, so famed for its delicious oranges, which are exported to Paris where one may see “Blida oranges” advertised in the shop windows. Among its scented groves I daily sauntered, and found the same choristers which we have at home. The familiar garden Thrush was quite common, and so were Redbreasts. Willow Wrens and tuneful Blackcaps seemed to abound every- where. Starlings, Titlarks, and Linnets were in some num- bers, and the sprightly Blackbird was not uncommon. But most beautiful of all were the Buff-backed Herons ; perched on the backs of cattle, they stand like alabaster images, and no herdsman but gladly makes them welcome. Here I shot the rare Dipper, or Pale-backed Water Ouzel, des- cribed by Dr. Tristram as Cinclus minor (Ibis, 1870, p. 496,) THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 27 but since assigned in Dresser’s “Birds of Europe” (Part 24 and 25, p. 3) to C. albicollis (Vieill). Loche says of it in the “Exploration Scientifique,” p. 306— “Le cincle plongeur, que nous n’avons rencontré que tres accidentellement en Algérie y semble excessivement rare, et il est supposable qu'il ne doit y étre que de passage.” But M. Germain, at p. 63, says :-— “Sedentaire—Se recontre sur le cours de l'oued—Anasseur (Milianah).” On the 16th I caught a green Lizard, about a foot anda quarter long, but having nothing to preserve it in, set it at liberty. While I was in the “Tell,’* and afterwards in the Sahara, I had not much time to attend to anything but birds. I however made notes of a Water Tortoise at Miliana, of a Weasel (apparently the same as ours), of some Bats, and of Foxes in the rocks at Boghari, and of a few other things which will be mentioned in the course of my narrative. On the 17th I took the Diligence to Boumedfa, a village stated to contain about 270 inhabitants, (though I should. have supposed it much less,) and leaving again on the 18th, moved to the fortified town of Miliana. Miliana is a place of considerable importance. Its ornithology has been worked by Monsieur Germain, but I was not aware of the existence of his paper, or I should not have been so much surprised at meeting with Ruticilla Moussieri,t a beautiful bird of restricted range, which he makes the subject of a long note; or at shooting Parus ledoucit (Malh.), figured in Sharpe and Dresser’s “Birds of Europe,” and the only ® The “Tell” is the mountainous country of the Atlas, from the sea to the commencement of the Sahara. + In Captain Shelley’s collection I recently noticed a male marked “ Blida, rst of March, 1873.” 28 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. specimen they could obtain for their work. The latter is very like our English Coal Tit. From M. Germain’s list, printed in the “Nouvelles Archives du Museum dhistoire Naturelle,” I., p. 59, (Paris) and entitled “Catalogue Raisonné des oiseaux observés dans la subdivision de Milianah,” I cull a few remarks on this species :— “Commune dans les foréts de chénes du Zaccar, des Beni— Menasser et des montagnes de la rive gauche du Chelif. A Milianah, elle descend quelquefois en hiver dans les jardins les plus éléves. Partout ot: l’on rencontre cette espéce, on est certain de trouver le Geai cervical (Garrulus cervicalis) qui, comme elle, parait ne se rencontre qu’A une altitude determinée, que j’évalue & sept on huit cents métres au dessus du niveau. dela mer. Je crois aussi que ces deux espéces n’habitent que les regions élevés oti la neige est durable en hiver.” Of this species also M. Labonysse, in his “ Lettre sur les oiseaux de la partie littorale de la province de Constantine, ’* says :— _ “La Mésange Ledoux pratique en terre, dans le forét de I’Edough, un trou de Om 15, de profondeur, ot elle établit son nid. Elle a été observée pour la premitre fois le 16 Avril, 1842.” (Annales de Société d’Agriculture de Lyon, 1853, p. 15.) Another rarity which I got at Miliana was Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia sericea, Natt), a tame little bird which ventured quite up to houses on the outskirts of villages. I found it equally in woods and gardens, but always near a ditch. At Algiers I got one, and at Blida three specimens. On the 25th I moved from Miliana to Boufarik, once a mere morass, but now an important place numbering 4,000 inhabitants. There are a good many Griffon Vultures near * About 110 species are included, with some notes of considerable interest, besides a short article on domestic birds in this “letter,” THE ALGERIAN SAHARA, 29 here. Monsieur Jeannot, ornithologist, Hotel du Mazagram, showed mea pair killed with ball in the plain of Metidja. About April he told me some of the cattle generally die, and when the hot weather has made them partly putrid, a score or more of these Vultures will come from the moun- tains to feed on them, and in this way they are occasionally obtained. I did not get one then, but I bought a ragged skin (nearly adult) of a Zouave at Laghouat, which has since been made presentable by Mr. Burton, of Wardour Street. At a wood outside the village, as I was sitting on a little bridge, I saw an old Jackal quietly coming up the ditch at a slow swing trot. I watched him with a binocular- glass until he was within twenty-five yards, when probably scenting me, he leapt into the wood. On the 26th I returned to Algiers, and on the Ist of March I made my start for the Great Desert, having laid in a good stock of things for the journey, including a sovereign’s worth of alcohol for preserving reptiles. By train to Blida, and by “diligence” to Medea along a first- rate French road, is the route, passing through the famed gorge of the Chiffa. Here I stopped at the “ Ruisseau des Singes” audberge, where Canon Tristram tried in vain to obtain accommodation, and saw exactly the same species of birds as he saw, (“The Great Sahara,” p. 33) including the Blue Thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneus). 1 did not obtain a specimen of it, for I had no opportunity of using a gun, but I bought a female in winter plumage at Algiers. I never saw it again in my Algerian travels, nor did I ever come across the Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis). There are a good many Monkeys on the beetling sides of this verdant, rocky, pass. Two at the “auberge” ap- peared to be the same sort as I saw at Gibraltar. The Barbary Ape I believe they are called. The Medea road passes through a line of forest country. 30 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. The Arabs burn the bark off the trees, which is as valuable as our oak bark is to us in England, but this practice ruins the picturesque. Beneath many a stately monarch of the forest we passed, now scorched and blackened. I believe these great woods are chiefly composed of oak, ilex, and cork; seven sorts of oaks are enumerated in Piesse’s “Itineraire de l’Algerie.” They form a safe home for such woodland birds as Pica mauritanica, Lanius auriculatus, and Fringilla spodiogena, which nest here in perfect security. Perched on one scathed limb, a noble Eagle seemed to keep guard over all around him: he eyed us as we approached him, and it was not until we were almost within gunshot that he condescended to stretch his broad pinions. After a long drive, Boghari came in view, an Arab village, close to the town of Boghar, and the usual stopping place for travellers as there is an inn there, and to ascend to the town would be much further. Here the traveller may taste “ couscous,’ an Arab preparation of barley, milk, meat, and fruits. It is variously called couscous and couscousoo, He will also see the black nomadic tents of camels’ hair, which he is afterwards destined to sleep in. They are very ill- constructed, and so low, that you can barely stand upright in the middle. A partition divides them into two chambers, one for the men, and one for the women where the cooking is done. They are generally made of camels’ hair, some- times of goats’ hair, interwoven with wool, black or in coloured stripes. They are propped up with sticks, and are grimy in the last degree. To sum up the description of them, they are the reverse of picturesque at a distance, and present a filthy appearance on closer inspection! Half a dozen surly dogs mount guard, and so obstreperous are they that I was several times on the point of shooting them, and only refrained from fear of offending their masters. . After inspecting the Jews’ quarter, which is worth a visit for the sake of seeing the Jewesses who dress very gaily, THE ALGERIAN SAHARA, 31 wearing a variety of ornaments, and peeping into a Moorish bath, the inner room of which was intensely hot, and ex- amining the stock in trade of a negro who dealt in jewelry, scent, spurs, purses, and swords, and after collecting speci- mens of the Black Wheatear (Saxicola leucura), Little Owl (Athene glaux), Rock Dove (Columba fivia, Lin., C. turricola Bp.). and Ultramarine Tit (Parus teneriffe, Less.), 1 made the discovery that I had seen all that was worth seeing at Boghari, and on the 8th I ensconced myself and my impedi- menta in the weekly “Diligence.” Six horses drag it. In the “Tell” eight are not considered too many; indeed I sometimes saw ten to a large vehicle, but then admirable as the French government roads are, the hilly nature of the country must be remembered. Mules and horses are yoked indifferently to the same vehicle. The first cavavanserai is Bougzoul. It is in the “ Hauts Plateaux.”