86 Rev, H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 



from the western, under the name ^S^. helena, on account of the 

 difference in the length of bill ; but though the average run of 

 specimens have certainly longer and stouter bills than European 

 individuals, yet we obtained both forms, and in one instance 

 found the male bird long-billed, and the female, shot from the 

 nest at the same time, of the ordinary European type. 



The beautiful Nisoria undata we only saw for two days in 

 April. Our party was separated. I was at Jericho, and on the 

 27th saw numbers of these birds scattered up and down the 

 wadys, generally skulking among the bushes, very shy and 

 restless ; Mr. Cochrane and I shot and preserved several ; but 

 in two days they had all disappeared. Mr. Bartlett was at the 

 time on Mount Tabor. On the 28th he there secured half a 

 dozen specimens in the Wady Bireh and on the Plain of Gen- 

 nesaret, but never saw one again, though we believed we de- 

 tected it once or twice on Lebanon in June, but were unable to 

 secure or identify it. No other passing migrant, except the 

 Wagtails, appeared to hasten so rapidly through the country. 

 The Greater Nightingale [Philomela major), though an Eastern 

 form, we never recognized; but the common Nightingale, P. 

 luscinia, returned in tolerable numbers about the middle of April, 

 frequenting especially the fringe of trees by the banks of the Jor- 

 dan. We also found it on Tabor and in various wooded wadys. 



Cyanecula leucocyanea and C. suecica are both of them winter 

 visitants, resorting to the marshy lowlands and the banks of 

 small streams, frequently in consort with Pipits. We found the 

 two species sometimes together, though the former was the more 

 common. They remained up to the middle of April, after which 

 we saw them no more. They are very quiet ; and we never 

 observed them to perch, or leave the marshy grounds, being at 

 this time of the year decidedy aquatic in their habits. 



Of the Redstarts we obtained three species, the most common 

 and conspicuous being Ruticilla tithys, which finds a congenial 

 home throughout the year in the rocky hills of the Holy Land. 

 During winter it is the most common and conspicuous bird on 

 those dreary ranges, and especially affects the sea-coast, as near 

 the Ladder of Tyre. It is partially migratory, ascending in 

 spring to the spurs of Lebanon and the sides of Hermon, very 



