Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 83 



and P. rufa were mingled a few of other species. I take Ehren- 

 berg's Curruca viridula to be only our P. trochilus ; but we shot 

 a few specimens of a bird which I took at the time for P. mfa, 

 but which is larger and corresponds with Mr. Strickland's de- 

 scription of his P. hrevirostris, obtained at Smyrna in winter. 

 We also got one or two specimens of the Yellow-browed 

 Warbler, or so-called Dalmatian Regulus {Beguloides super- 

 ciliosus) at Jericho, creeping among the thickctsby the water- 

 side, but never saw it again elsewhere. It appears to be only a 

 scarce straggler in winter. The earliest of these species to depart 

 was the Chiff-ChaflF, true to its character as the earliest arrival 

 in England ; and by the end of February the whole of them had 

 disappeared. The Willow- Wren remained a fortnight later. 



It was curious that we never met with a specimen of P. sibi- 

 latrix in winter ; but on the 26th April they suddenly appeared, 

 on which day Mr. Bartlett shot more than a dozen, and until 

 the second week in May they were very common, after which 

 we saw them no more ; nor did we ever find a nest. The species 

 seems merely to be of passage on its way to the north. In 

 Algiers I have noticed them in the beginning of April. Before 

 their return, about the 1st of April, P. bonellii arrived and 

 rapidly dispersed to its various haunts, remaining to breed, 

 which no other member of the group did. Its habits are like 

 those of P. trochilus, its voice very weak, and its nest on the 

 ground, with eggs closely resembling our Wood-Wren^s, but 

 with the spots red rather than chocolate-colour. Bonelli's War- 

 bler seems to affect the wooded hills, as Carmel, Tabor, and the 

 lower slopes of Hermon, in preference to the low grounds, where 

 we did not meet with it. 



Of the other Sylviads, the Common Redbreast {Erythacus 

 ruhecula) was scattered everywhere by ones and twos throughout 

 the country in winter, singing lustily when all else was silent, 

 and as bold and familiar as at home; but not one remained after 

 February. The common Whitethroat and the Blackcap are 

 very abundant everywhere, and remain throughout the year ; but 

 the numbers of the former appeared to be inereased, and of the 

 latter considerably diminished, in spring. The nests cf the 

 Whitethroat became a perfect nuisance when out searching with 



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