70 FAUNA AND FLORA OF PALESTINE. 



125. Linota cannabina. (Linn. Syst. Nat. i., p. 322.) Linnet. 



Tlie Linnet roams through the lower country in flocks during the 

 winter, and in summer ascends to the mountain regions, where it breeds, 

 especially on the summits of Lebanon and Hermon, consorting with the 

 Snow Finch and building in tufts of Alpine plants close to the snow. 

 The plumage on the vvhole is more brilliant than in Western specimens. 



It is widely spread throughout Europe, Barbary, and Western Asia, 

 not passing into Siberia or beyond Persia. 



126. Carpodacus sinaitiais. (Licht.) Bp. and Schl. Mon. Lox.,p. 17. 

 Sinaitic Rose Finch. 



I have only seen this rarest of the Rose Finches in the desert south 

 of the Dead Sea, and between that region and Beersheba, where it was in 

 the company of small flocks of the Trumpeter Bullfinch. It is stricdy a 

 desert and ground bird, and has never been taken beyond the limits of the 

 Sinaitic Peninsula. 



127. Erythrospiza githaginca. (Licht. Verz. Doubl., p. 24.) 

 Trumpeter Bullfinch. 



The Trumpeter Bullfinch is confined to the southern wilderness of 

 Judsea. I have never seen it in the Ghor. Its true home is the African 

 Sahara, where it is widely spread, never coming north of the Atlas. It 

 also inhabits the desert tracts of Egypt, Arabia, Persia and Scinde ; and 

 westward extends to the Canaries. 



128. Erythrospiza sanguinca. (Gould. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 127.) 

 Crimson-winged Finch. 



This lovely Finch is extremely rare, even in its favourite districts. I 

 only twice saw it in the Lebanon in 1864, and my fellow traveller, 

 Mr. Cochrane, secured a nest of eggs with the parent cock-bird, which he 

 shot off the nest, and which I still possess. In 1881 I again met with it 

 in the very same place, among low fir trees. 



The Crimson-winged Finch has been obtained in the Caucasus, once 

 in the mountains of North Persia by Blanford, and in Turkestan by 

 Severtzoff. 



