Rev. H, B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 285 



son shoulders at each movement. It generally works up the 

 gorge at nearly the same elevation, with its breast towards the 

 face of the rock, and moves close to its surface in a pei-pendicular 

 position, rapidly darting forth its bill and picking out minute in- 

 sects as it passes along. In a few minutes it would return down 

 the valley again, quartering the rock in a line parallel to its for- 

 mer course. In the Wady Hamam, near Gennesareth, we twice 

 observed chinks in the precipice where the Wall -creeper was 

 breeding, but they were hopelessly inaccessible. 



In the same localities we found Sitta syriaca, scarce and local, 

 but always attracting attention by its restlessness and loud note. 

 In the grand gorge of the Leontes it is particularly abundant. 

 Mr. Sclater has rightly corrected me (Ibis, 1865, p. 309) for 

 the statement that the bird we procured south of Hermon was 

 Sitta krueperi; but now possessing two of Dr. Kriiper^s type-spe- 

 cimens, I feel confident that I frequently saw this little Nut- 

 hatch in the Leontes gorge. I shot them, but was unable to 

 recover the specimens in that tremendous depth. But I saw 

 them closely enough to identify the chestnut collar ; and Mr. 

 Cochrane took a nest in this place which he kindly shared with 

 me, the eggs of which are only half the size of those of our 

 Common Nuthatch, and doubtless belong to this species. I 

 must now add to the list in the Zoological ' Proceedings ' Sitta 

 ccBsia, Meyer, as pointed out by Mr. Sclater, which Mr. Bartlett 

 first shot in a wooded glen under Hermon, and I afterwards in 

 the Lebanon. The under surface is of a deeper rufous than in 

 ordinary European specimens. 



Of the Titmice only one, Parus major, L., is common in Pales- 

 tine ; it is found in all the woods and oliveyards east and west, 

 but never in the Jordan valley; and its coloration is very bright. 

 It is rather an early breeder, but we found one nest ready to 

 hatch in an olive-tree near Jerusalem on April 26th. The only 

 other species we saw were in the Lebanon — Parus luguhris, Natt., 

 and Parus ater, L., which is very abundant at the cedar-groves 

 but not in the lower ranges of the mountains. 



However scantily some of the above groups are represented 

 in the Palestine fauna, the Alaudince are most abundant and 

 conspicuous everywhere. Of the eight subgenera which are 



