Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithulogy of Palestine. 363 



four in number^ pure white, considerably larger than those of 

 the House Martin, and flatter at the small end. 



Strange confusion has occurred in the nomenclature of H. 

 I'ufula. Some English writers, among whom is Mr. Newman, 

 appear to identify it with H. cahirica, and talk of the dark 

 rufous or chestnut of its lower parts ! Dr. Bree has erroneously 

 blended it with H. daurica, an Eastern representative species ; 

 while Temminck and Degland have each helped to make con- 

 fusion worse confounded. An examinatioii of specimens is all 

 that is required to clear up these repeated blunders, which one 

 author has copied from another. 



Of the genus Cotijle three species occur in Palestine. C. 

 riparia, our Sand-Martin, though it swarms in Egypt all winter 

 and breeds on the Nile in February, only returns to the Holy 

 Land at the end of March, and then in small colonies, there 

 being very few localities suited to its habits. 



C rupestris, the well-known Rock-Martin of Southern Europe, 

 resides in all the glens of Palestine throughout the year, not 

 often in large numbers, though in the Jordan valley it is nume- 

 rous enough to be decidedly gregarious, as it is also in the gorge 

 of the Litany River. It appears indifferent to climate and season. 

 It is a singularly sombre-looking bird on the wing, its sooty uni- 

 form being only occasionally relieved by the display of the white 

 spots on some of the inner rectrices. It breeds early in March, 

 in inaccessible clefts, and its eggs are spotted like those of the 

 House-Swallow, thus differing from the whole group with which 

 it is classed, excepting the next species. 



Cotyle palustris, hitherto supposed to belong to Abyssinia and 

 the Upper Nile, we found throughout the year in the Jordan 

 valley, consorting, to the north of the Dead Sea, with the last 

 species, while round its shores it holds undisputed possession. 

 The two birds breed in the same locality, in the clefts of Mount 

 Quarantania, near Jericho. In appearance and form it exactly 

 resembles C. rupestris, only being of a much lighter hue, a 

 very pale ashen-grey, and one-third less ; so that they can be 

 instantly discriminated on the wing. They have the same note 

 and flight ; but, while the other bird confines itself to the gorges, 

 this may often be seen skimming the surface of the wide salt- 



