Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 365 



and confined to the southern parts of the country. Both species 

 appear frequently to have a second brood. Curiously enough, 

 the Rosy Shrike, L. minor, which I obtained in the Plain of 

 Sharon in 1858, and which has been mentioned by several writers 

 among the birds of the country, did not come under our ob- 

 servation on our recent visit. Nor did we detect Telephonus 

 tschagra, so common in Algeria and Tunis. 



Of the other Shrikes, the Redbacked Enneoctonus collurio is 

 most abundant on the high grounds of Hernion and Lebanon, 

 where it supplants all the other species, but only in summer, 

 as it returns in May ; and we obtained the eggs as late as June 

 20th. On the 16t'h May Mr. Bartlett and I took ten nests of 

 eggs in one forenoon near Lake Phiala on Hermon. 



Lanius rufus, the Woodchat, is also a migrant, returning the 

 last week in March, and after that time to be seen on every 

 bush up to an altitude of 4000 feet. Above this it does not 

 ascend, its place being taken by the Red-backed Shrike. But it 

 also breeds as plentifully in the seething glens of the Dead Sea as 

 on the bleak hills of Samaria. Its nest, though much neater and 

 more compact, is not less conspicuous than that of the Grey 

 Shrike. It is lined with some uniform material, generally the 

 soft flower-tufts of some composite plant. Once I found one 

 near a village, lined entirely with the cotton threads of a piece of 

 stocking evidently pulled to pieces by the bird itself. It appears 

 never to employ wool or hair in Palestine. The eggs are subject 

 to the same variations as those of E. collurio, though they run 

 less brilliant and more greenish. 



The most attractive of the Palestine Shrikes is the little L. 

 nubicus, Licht., another migrant, returning about the 20th March. 

 Compared with its congeners it is a shy, retiring bird, preferring 

 the inside of the bushes to the bare exposed twigs for its perch, 

 and generally concealing itself in the leafy thickets. It is very 

 quiet, and seldom seen on the wing ; but in flight the contrast 

 of its white and black plumage and rufous under parts has a 

 brilliant effect. The nest is remarkably neat, like that of the 

 Chaffinch, but of course wider and shallower, placed on a branch 

 or fork, lined with fine roots and fibres. The eggs, four or five 

 in number, though Shrike-like, have a distinct character, the 



