AFES. 53 



extend further in Palestine than the Lebanon. It is to be seen and heard 

 at the Cedars, and in all the few wooded districts. 



The Sombre Titmouse is very different in its habits from our Marsh 

 Tit, and affects the higher branches of trees. It is a bird of very Hmited 

 range. Its centre is Greece, where it extends westward to Hungary, 

 eastwards to Palestine and the Taurid range. 



FAMILY, SITTID.^. 



75. Sit^a ncumayeri. Michal. his, 1S30, p. 814. Syrian Nut- 

 hatch. 



No one who has noticed and heard the Syrian Nut-hatch on the side of 

 some rugged Lebanon ravine can ever forget it. The startling cheery 

 note, and the movement of the bird among rocks and boulders, as easy in 

 its motions over a moraine heap as a railway train on the rails, cannot be 

 forgotten. This species is very common all through Lebanon, while 

 north of these mountains I found both this and the true Sitta syriaca, the 

 large species, identical with that of Central Asia, inhabiting the same 

 localities. 



Neumayer's Nut-hatch is only found in Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria, 

 resorting exclusively to rocks and bare gorges, and never visiting trees. 



76. Sitta cccsia. Wolf. Tasch. Deutsch. Vogelk. i., p. 128. Common 

 Nut-hatch. 



The Common Nut-hatch is resident in the wooded parts of Galilee, 

 round Hermon and throughout the Lebanon. It is especially abundant 

 in the Leontes (Litany) glen, but never found further south. I have not 

 been able to trace it east of Jordan. 



The range of Sitta casia is peculiar. It is the only species of the 

 genus found in England, but on the Continent it is not found north of 

 Holland. It is sparsely scattered through all Southern Europe, and is 

 not uncommon in Asia Minor and Armenia. 



77. Sitta krueperi. Von Pelzeln. Sitz. Akad. Wissen. Wien. 48, 

 Ab. i., p. 149. Kriiper's Nut-hatch. 



Kriiper's Nut-hatch I have only noticed in the wooded walls of the 

 stupendous gorge of the Leontes, where it may be seen among the trees 



