Rev. H. B.Tristram on the Ornitliology of Palestine. 61 



want of suitable localities ; for the Lebanon valleys, the northern 

 portions of Galilee, and, above all, the vast glades of Gilead 

 would seem admirably adapted for its resort. Yet the Arabs 

 knew nothing of such a bird, nor had they any name for it; and 

 our muleteer, Khadour, a very intelligent and observant man, 

 who had spent years in travelling over all parts of Syria, assured 

 me, when I showed him a Cyprus skin, that he had never seen 

 such a bird in the country. Nor did I obtain any further re- 

 cognition from Arab fowlers who likewise saw the skin. Thus 

 the southern limit of the range of the Magpie seems very sharply 

 defined. I am not aware that it has ever been found in Egypt. 

 The congener in Algeria and Tunis, P. mauritanica (Malh.), 

 never penetrates beyond the wooded range of the Atlas. The 

 Indian P. bottanensis (Deless.) never comes south of the Hima- 

 layahs. The Chinese P. sericea (Gould), barely distinguishable 

 from the European species, descends, however, almost to the 

 tropics ; while the American Pica hudsonica (Bp.) appears to 

 be almost confined to the Arctic regions and high central plains 

 of Western America, and the P. nuttalli (Aud.) to the coast- 

 line of California. Thus everywhere there is a striking con- 

 trast between the restricted limits of the genus Pica and the 

 wide range of the Corvince, which cannot be accounted for by 

 any difference we yet know between the habits and conditions 

 of life of the two genera. 



During the month of November, beyond the occasional 

 glimpse of a distant Raven, the only bird of the family we met 

 with in the Lebanon was the Black-headed Jay, Gairulus mela- 

 nocephalus (Bonelli). There it was very scarce and cautious. 

 On the coast it never occurred till we reached the wooded dis- 

 trict of Mount Carmel; and in the scattered oak-groves on the 

 road to Nazareth we obtained our first specimen. We had 

 already secured a specimen in Asia Minoi', near Smyrna, and 

 found the species in the two countries decidedly to differ in 

 several particulars. In the Asia Minor bird the black of the 

 crest descends, as in the Algerian G. cervicalis (Bp.), close to 

 the coverts of the nostrils. In all the Palestine specimens, and 

 I speak from a very large series, there is a broad frontal line, or 

 white forehead, before the commencement of the black crest. 



