Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 85 



tinued, regardless of the weather, to hover over the breakers, 

 ever and anon dashing down into the surf, and apparently diving 

 to the bottom for their prey. Their flight and actions reminded 

 us very much of the Kestrel. After rising with a somewhat jerk- 

 ing flight, they would poise themselves for several minutes with 

 a gentle quiver of the wing, and then suddenly drop perpendicu- 

 larly, beak foremost, for a header, or else glide swiftly onwards 

 to take up another aerial post of observation. They are at all 

 times of the year gregarious in small bands. A few bred near 

 the Jordan, in the banks of the Wady Kelt ; but the great breed- 

 ing-place which we discovered was on the plain of Gennesaret, 

 in the banks of the Ain Mudawarah. Here there was a colony 

 of about thirty pairs, only a small proportion, however, of the 

 birds of this species which feed on the teeming myriads of fishes 

 in the hallowed lake. They selected a different part of the bank, 

 and built in a different position from Halcyon smyrnensis. Shortly 

 before its entrance into the lake, the Mudawarah forms a hollow 

 secluded pool, with steep banks of mud about twenty feet high 

 above the water, which may have a depth of ten or twelve feet. The 

 sides of this little amphitheatre were perforated all round by the 

 holes of the Great Kingfisher, but all of them close to the water 

 edge, about four inches above it. Here on the 28th of April Mr. 

 Bartlett took two nests, of six and four eggs respectively. I re- 

 visited the locality on the 21st and 22nd of May and found great 

 numbers of young birds fledged and able to fish for themselves, 

 while some nests contained from four to six young ; but I still se- 

 cured five nests with fresh eggs in each. The only way of securing 

 them was to strip and swim to the bank, while an Arab threw 

 down a rope from above, which I fastened round my waist while 

 he held the other end ; and thus suspended in the pleasant 

 tepid bath, I dug away with the mattock let down to me till the 

 eggs were reached. 



The passages were about three feet and a quarter in length, and 

 the chamber at the end was simply scooped at one side of the 

 passage, not turned at a sharp angle, nor double, like that of 

 the Bee-eater. In one instance I had dug long and laboriously, 

 when out dashed a great rat instead of a Kingfisher, leaving 

 her six naked young to their fate. In no instance were there 



