The Oologists' Record, December i, 1921. 87 



the way in which huge, noisy flocks of these birds would congregate 

 in ber trees [Zizyphus jiijubn), mimosas, and other thorny shrubs 

 near the eucalyptus groves before retiring to the groves to roost 

 for the night, which they would not do without much preliminary 

 fuss and circling round and round the grove, and they always 

 settled in and then left again at least half a dozen localities in the 

 grove before finally settling down for the night. At the end of 

 April thev were still very plentiful in certain eucalyptus groves 

 near Ludd, had all paired off, and were very noisy ; a good many 

 pairs were noted right u\) to the middle of May, after which all 

 had apparently gone. Several times I thought I heard these birds 

 in an eucalyptus grove during the latter half of May and in early 

 June, and then I saw a pair in our camp, which was not a quarter 

 of a mile away from the particular grove, on the 14th June, and 

 saw them frequently up to the end of the month, and on one occasion 

 there were two ? and one (^ , all adult birds. They used to come 

 and catch grasshoppers round our tents at Birsalem, near Ludd. 

 Then on the 6th July I saw a pair near Ramleh town, and this made 

 me almost convinced that a few pairs did remain to breed in the 

 Coastal Plain. 



Palestine House Sparroiv — Passer domesticus hiblicus. 



Ubiquitous and resident throughout the hills and Coastal Plain. 

 I don't think there is much to be said about this species which 

 one does not know already. It is quite impartial as to the situation 

 of its nest— holes in rockS, cliffs, trees, wells and houses, thick hedges 

 bushes, trees, cactus, etc., all come alike to it — and the nests are 

 the same untidy structures which are found elsewhere. The breed- 

 ing season starts about the middle of April and continues right on 

 into August. Two broods are brought up in the season, and these 

 birds will go on laying up to three or even more sets when persist- 

 ently robbed of their eggs. Sets of seven, six and five eggs were 

 all quite common, and it is hard to say which of these numbers 

 constitutes the normal clutch. In cliffs, pits, wells, trees, etc., 

 they are gregarious. The eggs vary as much as those found in the 

 British Isles, both in size, shape and the colour of the markings. 



Small Palestine Sparroiv — Passer moabiticus moabiticus. 



I really have no business to include this species in my list, as 

 I neither came across the nests nor the birds, though they breed 



