70 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornitholoffy of Palestine. 



occasion the Ravens had learnt wisdom by experience, and, 

 sweeping round over Siloam, chose another route to their dormi- 

 tory. 



On revisiting Jerusalem in March and April we found that the 

 greater part of the large Ravens had left, though many of C. 

 mnbrinus remained, but by no means so sociable as in winter. Num- 

 bers of them paid a visit every morning to the Jewish slaughter- 

 houses, or rather slaughter-places, outside the Damascus gate. 

 They were building, not in communities, but in various scattered 

 localities in the neighbourhood. We never obtained a nest of 

 C. corax : though, close to the city-walls in the valley of Hinnom, 

 in a ledge easily accessible, Mr. Egerton-Warburton took a nest 

 with five eggs of C. umbrinus. 



In the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea the common Raven 

 was never absent, but C. umbrinus was also abundant, scattered 

 in pairs or in small companies on every part of the shores. In the 

 Wady Kelt, near Jericho, we found several nests, containing gene- 

 rally five or six eggs, situated on the most inaccessible ledges. We 

 never found it, like the Hooded Crow, breeding in trees, while 

 in Africa C. corax selects indiscriminately trees and ledges, even 

 where trees are few. The egg is decidedly larger than that of the 

 Carrion-Crow, but smaller than the Raven^s. All our specimens 

 are rather brighter in colour than the ordinary run of Ravens' eggs. 

 Near the mouth of the Jordan I secured a specimen of the Brown- 

 necked Raven just as it reached the shore, which had evidently tra- 

 versed the lake from the south : and during our slow progress down 

 the west shore of the Dead Sea it was of daily occurrence. There 

 is great variation in the depth of colour. Of fifteen specimens 

 which fell to my own share, while most have the deep brown 

 colour extending down for six inches both on the back and 

 breast, in several it is very faint, excepting on the neck, 

 and one or two are nearly as dark as Carrion-Crows. But they 

 never have the blue-black reflexions of the Great Raven. They 

 are also noticeable for the length of the wing, the primaries ex- 

 tending quite to the end of the tail. The beak is long, very 

 strong, but not so curved as in C. corax. But the most stri- 

 king peculiarity of this bird is the voice, which is very peculiar 

 and when once heard can never be forc-otten. It is something: 



