90 llev. II. B. Tristram on the Oi-nithology of Palestine. 



tiful form, whether in life or as a cabinet specimen, not to 

 admit that, though Saxicohue in its affinities, it is a very aber- 

 rant member of the group. It corresponds in all generic fea- 

 tures with Sir A. Smith's genus Bessonornis (recte Bessornis), 

 which was formed for the reception of more than a dozen Afri- 

 can species, differing from Saxicola in the length of tarsus, 

 elongated tail, and having the rufous coloration of Ruticilla. 

 To this type our present species undoubtedly belongs, in pro- 

 portions, anatomy, coloration, and habits; and De Filippi's 

 genus Irania appears to me a mere repetition of the older 

 Bessornis. 



On the afternoon of June 4, 1864, I was rambling alone 

 among the vineyards and pear-orchards which stretch about 

 three miles above Rasheiya to the very verge of the naked sides 

 of Hermon, and the icy water from the melting snows was 

 trickling even then, in refreshing rivulets, through the channels 

 which intersect the primitive enclosures. It had already been a 

 day cretd notanda in my collecting journal. I had just taken 

 my first nest of Hi/polais upcheri, shot the birds, and ascer- 

 tained I had a new species in my bag. I had secured four or 

 five specimens of a Serin unknown, with a nest of hard-set 

 eggs; and this, too, proved to be new, my Serinus aurifrons. 

 Two new species on the highway of ordinary travel were pretty 

 well for a day's work ; and I sat down, and was employed in 

 blowing the eggs of Upcher's Warbler, when from a pear-tree 

 overhead burst forth a song equal to that of the Thrush, but 

 shorter ; it was new to me ; but I could not see the musician. 

 He began again, and I caught sight of a jerking red tail in a 

 pear-tree at a little distance. I took it for Petrocincla saxatilis, 

 as he perched with his back to me, and the sun glanced upon 

 him. Soon the eggs were hurried into my case, and T was up in 

 pursuit. Off he went out of the vineyards to the bare moraine 

 beyond, and sat. Chat-like, on a boulder. I kept him in sight 

 as he popped from rock to rock, and at length, as he was re- 

 turning towards his first perch among the fruit-trees, I had a 

 fair shot at him, and he fell just outside the crumbling wall, not 

 a feather lost or soiled. "African again !" said I to myself, as 

 I fondly examined my prize. I soon heard another male of the 



