406 Canon H. B. Tristram^s Ornithological 



was very common, though it did not return until the middle 

 of May, while the pretty and lively little Nubian Shrike [L. 

 personatus) made its appearance on the 11th April. I also 

 satisfiedmysclfof the identity of the Mountain-Finch, Monti- 

 fringilla nivalis, with the western alpine species, and found it 

 in the beginning of April on the lower grounds near the source 

 of the Jordan, During my visit in 1 803-64 we never secured 

 a specimen of the Collared Flycatcher {Muscicapa coUaris), 

 though I felt sure I saw it on one occasion. This year I only 

 once saw my familiar old friend M. luctuosa, while from the 

 16th April M. collaris attracted us everywhere, and on every 

 diflFerent sort of ground. Its coming was sudden, its diffusion 

 general. We had been riding across country for several 

 days, up and down mountain-glens, taking a short cut from 

 Tyre to Mount Hermon. Habitations were few, birds abun- 

 dant. The Warblers had greeted us on all sides as We crossed 

 the Galilsean hills ; but not a Flycatcher did we see till, on 

 the morning of the 16th April, crossing from the stupendous 

 gorge of the Leontes to the head of the Jordan valley, and 

 thence up the woodlands to the Banias, a bright little black- 

 and-white bird, conspicuous among the foliage, started from 

 almost every other tree, and often from the scanty scrub. 

 We had been traversing similar ground the preceding day, 

 and not one had we see;3. But what struck me most was 

 the general diffusion of the Flycatchers over a wide area 

 without their being gregarious. I think I scarcely ever saw 

 even a male and female together. Yet the whole land was 

 overspread with them. And this continued as we travelled 

 eastward and southward up to the 29th April. Everywhere 

 the male bird was seen ; but they certainly were not paired. 

 Afterwards I only met with here and there an isolated couple 

 engaged in domestic duties in Armenia. Now I had been 

 over the very same ground during the same fortniglit of the 

 year in 1864, and never detected M. collaris ; yet in the same 

 country I did obtain M. luctuosa, both on migration at this 

 date and afterwards breeding. Had the bird been in Pales- 

 tine in 1864 I can hardly conceive how it could have escaped 

 the notice of four keen and active naturalists. The Collared 



