THE BIRDS of TUNISIA and Copies, the Edition of This Book Consists of Tioo Hundred Fifty of Which This Is
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rt j» F-X ^ N THE BIRDS OF TUNISIA and copies, The Edition of this book consists of tioo hundred fifty of which this is No n.4 at THE BIRDS OF TUNISIA BEING A HISTORY OF THE BIRDS FOUND IN THE REGENCY OF TUNIS BY ..^ Ji I. S. WHITAKER F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., ETC. VOL. L Xonbon Pt. H. POUTER 7, PKINCES STEEET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, W. 1905 TO MY DEAR WIFE TINA, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK. J. I. S. W. INTRODUCTION, The object of the present work is chiefly to supply a want, which I myself, and probably others, have felt, in the absence of any English publication which treats systematically of the birds to be found in the Eegency of Tunis. It is true that during the past few years our brother-ornithologists in Germany have not been idle in this part of North-west Africa, but, on the contrary, have contributed valuable i nformation to our knowledge of the Tunisian Avifauna, and to Prof. A. Koenig of Bonn and the late Carlo Freiherr von Erlanger of Ingelheim, we are indebted for highly interesting accounts of their researches in the Eegency, which have been published in the Journal i'lir Ornithologie. I take this opportunity of publicly expressing my deep regret at the premature death of Carlo v. Erlanger, whom I had the privilege of knowing personally, and whose many good qualities I was thus the better able to appreciate. As an ardent naturalist and careful observer he was perhaps unsurpassed, and the promise he gave of bgood work in the future was great. His loss is a serious one to Science in general, and to our much-loved branch of Ornithology in particular. With the exception of the publications mentioned above, and some minor ones, among which may be included a series of papers written by myself in the Ibis, little has been written of late years on the Ornis of the Tunisian Regency, but I may observe, en passant, that Algeria and Tunisia were among the first countries regarding the Avifauna of which articles appeared in the Ibis, such pioneers of Ornithology as Canon Tristram, Osbert Salvin and Mr. J. H. Gurney junr., having each in their turn written on the subject in the earlier volumes of that journal. Algeria having been under French rule for so many years, has viii. Iiitrodncfioii naturally been more visited by ornithologists and naturalists generally than Tunisia, and its Avifauna has been treated of by Malherbe, Loche, Taczanowski, Salvin, Canon Tristram, Mr. J. H. Guruey and others, as also more recently by Dr. Koenig. Marocco, owing to its unfortunate state of almost perpetual internecine strife and tribal warfare, with the consequent absolute absence of public security for travellers, has been the least explored of the three North-west African countries, but some valuable infor- mation regarding the Ornis of Tangier and its neighbourhood is to be found in Colonel Irby's " Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar," while papers and articles on the birds of the Empire by Mr. Tyrwhitt- Drake, Mr. Meade-Waldo and myself have at various times appeared in tlie Ibis. Dr. Hartert also has given an interesting account of a journey made by him in Marocco, together with some excellent notes regarding the birds he met with (Novit. Zool. ix, pp. 310-339). Obviously a good deal that has been written on the Ornithology of Algeria will apply equally to that of Tunisia, and vice-versa, for there is no natural boundary or division separating the two countries, or much difference in their physical features to cause a diversity in their Avifauna. Between the Ornis of Tunisia and that of Marocco, however, there undoubtedly is a considerable variation, which is due to the different climate, physical character and geographical position of the two countries. Thus Marocco, with the greater part of its seaboard washed by the stormy Atlantic, and with its mountainous and well watered interior, may naturally be expected to have a different climate, soil and character generally, from that of Tunisia, which is bounded by the Mediterranean on the north and east, is less mountainous and watered and has the sandy desert for its " hinterland." Hence we find that certain species, which are abundant in the one country, are rare or entirely absent in the other. Most noticeable also is the variation in the coloration of birds according to their more easterly or westerly habitat in this portion of North-west Africa, the tendency of species in Tunisia being to become pale, whereas in Marocco, on the contrary, the inclination is towards an intensity of colour. This colour variation is apparently not confined to birds alone, but extends to animal and vegetable life generally in this region. Prof. A. Newton, speaking of Madeira birds (Ibis, 1868, p. 189;, and — IntroductiiDi ix. referring to i\Ir. Wollaston's admirable remarks on the effects of isolation and exposure to a stormy atmosphere upon the insect world (Variation of Species, p. 70, et seq.), alludes to the efl'ect of the latter conditions as one of the principal causes of the darkening of the plumage of birds. With regard to the Ornitholog}' of that part of North-west Africa included in the Western Palasarctic Region and which, roughly speaking, may be said to comprise the greater part of Tunisia, Algeria and Marocco, or that portion lying to the north of the Great Sahara Desert, we are perhaps justified in considering our knowledge fairly well advanced, although we probably still have a good deal to learn concerning it. Regarding, however, the Ornis of the country imme- diately south of the above region, stretching from South Marocco, across the Sahara, to Tripoli and Cyrenaica, we know comparatively little and of some parts absolutely nothing. There can be no doubt that the Ornis of the country lying immediately north of the Atlas mountains bears considerable affinity to that of South Europe and the Mediterranean sub-region generally, but, on the other hand, it differs from the latter in possessing many species and forums, which either never occur north of the Mediterranean, or which are only to be met with there accidentally as stragglers. Immediately to the south of the Atlas mountains also certain species and forms are to be found, which do not occur north of that range, or are merely met with there accidentally from time to time. Although I am not of the opinion held by some ornithologists that there is more difference between the Ornis of the districts north of the Atlas and that immediately to the south of those mountains than between the former and the South European Ornis, it is undoubted that the Atlas range does form a very important natural barrier between the two districts, and still further south in Tunisia there are other, though less important and less clearly defined, natural divisions. Confining myself to the Regeuc}', and wishing to give some idea of the varied character of the country, as affecting its Ornis, I may make the following remarks : Tunisia has been subdivided by geographers into three natural divisions or regions, each of these differing from the other two in its climate, hydrography and topography, and consequently in its flora and fauna, viz. : the Northern region comprising that part of the — X. Introduction Eegency lying to the north of the Atlas mountains, the Central region including the districts between the Atlas and the Chotts, and the Southern region embracing all the country south of the Chotts. This rough division is no doubt correct, so far as it goes, and may perhaps be adopted for all ordinary purposes, but wishing for greater precision, it may be found advisable to modify it somewhat, and to subdivide the Southern region into two separate regions. This would give four distinct regions, which may be described as follows, viz. : (1) The Northern region, comprising that part of the Regency lying to the north of the Atlas mountains, which, in Tunisia, run from North-east to South-west, and extend from Hammanet on the east coast to El Oubira on the western frontier. This region is moun- tainous in great part, well watered, the usual annual rainfall, accord- ing to recent statistics, being from 450 mm. to 1 metre, and well wooded, besides having large tracts of fertile plains. Its climate, temperature and flora, resemble greatly those of South Europe and the Mediterranean, the latter including, in addition to cereals, fine forest trees, such as oaks and conifers of various species, olive and other fruit trees, vines, and a great extent of " maquis " vegetation, consisting of tree-heath, juniper, thuja, myrtle, cistus, and similar low- growing shrubs. (2) The Central region, embracing the country lying between the Atlas and the irregular and broken chain of mountains running from Mides, on the Algerio-Tunisian frontier, across the Regency north of Gafsa to the neighbourhood of Skirra, between Sfax and Gabes, on the east coast. This region includes the high plateaux between El Oubira and the Feriana district, and the lower plateaux between the latter and Gafsa, as also those lying to the west of this country. It also comprises the fertile plains of the Sahel in the neighbourhood of Sousa, and the less fertile districts south of the last named town. The region is less hilly and much drier than the Northern region, the annual rainfall being only about 200 mm. It is, however, fairly pro- ductive in some years, and has a large extent of excellent pasturage and grazing land. The vegetation consists chiefly of cereals and olive trees in the Sahel, of Aleppo-pine-woods and " maquis " growth on the mountains and higher plateaux, and of Haifa grass on the vast plains of the southern part of the region.