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



justify me, as I believe, in separating the Palestine bird by cer- 

 tain specific characters, which I accordingly did (P. Z. S. 1864, 

 p. 444), under the name of Corvus agricola. These differences 

 are, that the feathers of the throat are more lanceolate than 

 in our bird, and especially that the reflexions of the plumage, 

 particularly on the head, which are blue-black in the British 

 bird, and purple in the Chinese, are in this of a greenish -purple 

 black. 



We never met with the Rook on the east side of Jordan, though 

 I am not prepared to say it does not exist there. It will be in- 

 teresting to ascertain whether the Rook mentioned in Blyth's 

 catalogue from Cashmere, and stated by Jerdon also to be found 

 in winter in the Punjaub and Affghanistan, belongs to this, to the 

 European, or to the Chinese species. Palestine seems to be the 

 extreme southern limit of the range of the Rook. It has not 

 been found in Egypt, and Strickland found no trace of it in Asia 

 Minor, though it is reported from the Caucasus. It is not 

 mentioned by Hasselquist, nor by Russell in his ' Natural History 

 of Aleppo.' 



The Common Raven {Corvus cor ax) is everywhere present in 

 Palestine, and there, as I have observed also in North Africa, he 

 is, except in the breeding-season, by no means the lonely solitary 

 being which he is held to be in most parts of Europe, but is as 

 sociable and gregarious as the Rook or Jackdaw. He is, how- 

 ever, decidedly averse to a near acquaintance with the gun, and, 

 unless under very favourable circumstances, is only amenable 

 to a green cartridge. Though we daily saw the species, we never 

 obtained a specimen till we were under the walls of Jerusalem. 

 Here, however, it was quite outnumbered by its smaller com- 

 panion the Brown-necked Raven (C. umbrinus, Hedenb.). Of 

 all the birds of Jerusalem, the Ravens are the most characteristic 

 and conspicuous. They are present everywhere to eye and ear, 

 and the odours that float around remind us of their use. The 

 discordant jabber of their evening sittings round the Mosque of 

 Omar is deafening. The caw of the Rook and the chatter of 

 the Jackdaw unite in attempting to drown the hoarse croak of 

 the old Raven ; but clear above the tumult rings out the more mu- 

 sical call-note of hundreds of the lesser species. On the evening 



