76 FAUNA AND FLORA OF PALESTINE. 



agree with the Chinese. ■''' Only two in twenty of adult birds we shot in 

 spring had the slightest denudation. Both from this peculiarity and from 

 the coloration, if specific rank be granted to the Chinese form it seems 

 impossible to deny it to this one. 



The rook in Palestine is very local, owing, no doubt, to the scarcity 

 of well grown timber. Jerusalem and Nablus possess the chief rookeries, 

 if groups on the tops of buildings and ruins may be so termed. 



The Rook is the companion of cultivation throughout Europe and 

 Asia, from Ireland to Japan, under one of its three forms above mentioned. 

 It rarely is found, and then apparently accidental, south of the Mediter- 

 ranean, nor does it extend beyond the western frontier of India. In 

 Persia it is very rare. The Chinese form appears to run through Eastern 

 Siberia, Japan, and North China. 



144. Corvus comix. Linn. Syst. Nat. i., p. 156. Hooded Crow. 

 Arab., cl^, Zag/i. 



The Hooded Crow is common in Southern and Central Palestine, a 

 constant resident, but is never found in the Jordan valley, and I have 

 rarely met with it in the north of the country. It is very plentiful on the 

 east side of Jordan, both on the bare highlands of Moab, and in the 

 undulating country of Gilead and Bashan. Its nest is the favourite foster- 

 home of the eggs of the Great Spotted Cuckoo. 



The Carrion Crow, C. coronc, has never been noticed in Palestine. 



The Hooded Crow is spread through the whole of Europe, North 

 Africa, and Western Asia, as far as the Lena. The Carrion Crow thence- 

 forwards supplants it as we go eastward. The two birds are generally 

 now admitted to be specifically identical, but they have different ranges, 

 though inter-breeding when they meet. But in Palestine, Asia Minor, 

 and Egypt, the Hooded is the only form. 



145. Corvus affinis. Riipp. Neue. Wirb., p. 20. Fantail Raven. 



This interesting and litde-khown miniature Raven is only found around 

 the Dead Sea, in the most desolate and rugged cliffs, where it is very wild 



* The ' British Museum Catalogue ' in error marks my specimens shot in February as 

 immature, an easy mode of settling the question. 



