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



is like the male's. I have never seen any other member of the 

 genus which can be confounded with it. R, rufiventris ap- 

 proaches nearest to it, but is very different both in the colour of 

 the back and in the proportion of the red. It is strange that 

 so peculiar a form should not have been elsewhere noticed, not 

 even in Asia Minor or in Persia by Dr. De Filippi. Most birds 

 of restricted geographical range are sedentary. Whether R. 

 semirufa be so we have not ascertained; but if it be not merely a 

 summer visitor, it is remarkably late in nesting ; for on the 26th 

 June, on going down from the Cedars to Meiruba, we took a 

 nest with four eggs not very hard-set, having caught the bird 

 with the hand, as she remained under the little crevice in the 

 rock where the eggs were deposited in a slightly built nest. 

 It was on the ground, on the side of a precipitous hill. On 

 the preceding day we had obtained two nests of Emberiza cia — 

 not a bad capture so late in the year; and the final close of our 

 nesting-season was on the 26th June, when descending the Le- 

 banon, with the glorious view of the Mediterranean, on which 

 we were soon to embark, just opening before us. The colo- 

 phon of my egg-book for 1864 is, " Nest of 4 eggs, Ruticilla 

 semirufa, $ caught on nest. Eggs not before known.'* I 

 may add that they are like those of our common Redstart, but 

 of a more delicate and paler blue. 



Of the Rock-Thrushes, Petrocincla saxatilis, whose red tail 

 and Redstart-like habits link it most closely with the Ruticil- 

 lince, is in most parts of Palestine merely a passing traveller, 

 and tarries but a night. On the 8th April the whole of Mount 

 Gerizim was covered by a restless flock of these birds, which, at 

 a distance, we took for the Black Redstart, so exactly did they 

 resemble that bird in their actions. They hopped restlessly 

 from rock to rock, never taking a flight of more than a few 

 yards ; and in this fashion, in loose order, ranging for perhaps 

 a mile in breadth, they appeared to be steadily proceeding 

 northwards. When the foremost line had reached the valley, 

 they took a flight across to the foot of Mount Ebal, over the 

 gardens, and then more leisurely mounted the hill. We shot 

 about a dozen, but, being at the time without the assistance of 

 Mr. Bartlett's nimble fingers, I only saved a pair. Afterwards 



