Rev. II. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 281 



accounts for this in Western Palestine ; but it seems strange that 

 the thickly-wooded and extensive ranges of Gilead and Bashan, 

 with their varying foi'est of pine, oak, olive, and jujube, and every 

 variety of temperature, should not, so far as we know, afford a 

 home to more than a single species of Woodpecker. Further 

 investigation, doubtless, may reveal additional. species ; but unless 

 they be very scarce and local, I think they could hardly have 

 escaped us. 



The most interesting of the scansorial birds is the Great 

 Spotted Cuckoo, Oxylophus glandarius (L.), now, by the observa- 

 tions of Messrs. Allen and Cochrane in Egypt and of Lord Lllford 

 in Spain, very well known to English ornithologists, but whose 

 habits were almost a mystery to the naturalists of this country 

 when Mr. Salvin and I published our observations in ' The Ibis ' 

 for 1859. In Palestine the Spotted Cuckoo is by no means 

 rare in spring and summer, and has a wide range, visiting alike 

 the forests of Gilead and the oliveyards of the western country ; 

 but we never saw it in the Ghor, and probably it does not fre- 

 quent those districts, where neither the Jay nor the Hooded 

 Crow are found. It is a migrant, returning early in March. 

 We first met with it in the plain of Gennesareth, on March 4th, 

 on which day I shot three specimens, one male and two females. 

 They were then evidently on passage, and we never after- 

 wards found them excepting in wood on the higher ground. 

 They were exceedingly noisy, keeping up a continuous chatter 

 in the Zizyphus-h\x%he&, and occasionally darting off in pursuit 

 of a locust, with which they would return and devour it leisurely 

 on their perch. A few remained there for a couple of days ; but 

 on our two subsequent visits we never observed them on the 

 plains, although the Common Cuckoo was frequently both heard 

 and seen. In the open oak-glades of Bashan, at the end of 

 March, we found Oxylophus glandarius generally distributed, 

 though never in great numbers. The small birds were appa- 

 rently suspicious of its habits ; for the Spanish Sparrows would 

 pursue it in flocks with a deafening din, till even a Cuckoo's 

 life ought to have been a burden to him. Whether the Spar- 

 rows had discovered that he had the appearance of a Raptor 

 without his powers, and therefore enjoyed the luxury of bully- 



