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



flats and sand-spits of the Dead Sea. It particularly affects the 

 neighbourhood of Jebel Usdum, the salt-mountain, where it 

 breeds. I possess only one egg, marked exactly like, but con- 

 siderably smaller than that of the common Swallow. 



The House-Martin, Chelidonurbica, is the last of the Swallow 

 tribe to return to Palestine. It reappears in small numbers about 

 Api'il 5th, and breeds in colonies on the sheltered faces of cliffs 

 in the valleys of Northern Galilee. 



The Golden Oriole, Oriolus galbula, is rather a bird of passage 

 than a summer resident. Numbers of these splendid birds were 

 to be seen for a fortnight from the middle of May ; but they ra- 

 pidly disappeared, nor did I ever meet with the nest, though 

 twice in June I found pairs of Orioles evidently settled down 

 in their breeding-habitat. 



The Shrikes are amongst the most conspicuous and abundant 

 genera in the country; in fact they soon become a perfect nuisance 

 to the collector, whether in the way of skins or eggs. The most 

 common species is our own Lanius excubitor, which resides all 

 the year in every part of the country, and omits no opportunity 

 of exhibiting both himself and his nest. His favourite perch in 

 winter is the outermost bough of some bare prickly shrub ; and 

 when approached he simply flits to the outside of the next bush. 

 He builds his great nest, well defended by thorns from the attacks 

 of Hawks, in the middle of a jujube-tree, long before the leaves are 

 out. I have taken eggs incubated in the middle of March. While 

 the female is sitting, her mate chooses the most conspicuous perch 

 close by, and by his manner invites a scrutiny. But he is bold and 

 daring; and I have seen him beat off the Green Lizard, that pest of 

 small nestlings. Generally, however, the prickly bush is sufficient 

 to turn even a Lizard. So tame will the Grey Shrike become that 

 after a few days a pair of them regularly frequented our camp 

 for the sake of the morsels thrown outside the tent during the 

 occupation of skinning, and in securing their dainties they be- 

 haved with all the coolness of London Sparrows. The Southern 

 Shrike, L. meridionalis, can be discriminated at a glance by its 

 dark back. It does not reside in the country, but early returns 

 from its migration, breeding exactly in the same way as the former, 

 but about a month or a fortnight later. It is comparatively scarce. 



