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



its general form, and everything except its coloration, seems to 

 me to separate it very decidedly from the genus Petronia. It 

 seems to have been first described as such by Bonaparte (Consp. 

 Av. i. p. 513), from a specimen named by Hemprich, and since that 

 time to have been only noticed by Cabanis (Mus. Hein. i. p. 157). 

 Its bill is very small, and, like that of Euspiza, with an incipient 

 notch ; while its form is slender, and its general colour, above and 

 below, a uniform very light brown, unrelieved except by a half- 

 obliterated white spot at the extremity of all the rectrices. 

 I conceive that it is rather a desert-form of Euspiza than 

 anything else. Its specific name is inappropriate, and marks 

 no peculiarity. The specimen figured (Plate VI.) is a female; 

 but the sexes are similar in plumage. I have dilated at some 

 length on this bird, as its habits and nidification were quite un- 

 known, and it appears to be a very marked and distinct desert- 

 form. 



Of other Finches, the Greenfinch, Chlorospiza chloris (L.) is 

 a very common winter-visitant on the coasts, and abounds 

 especially on Mount Carmel, and on any wooded hills, but is 

 rare in the interior, and disappears in spring. Its place is then 

 taken by the Syrian Greenfinch, Chlorospiza chlorotica (Licht.), 

 which is rather an early arrival, abundant from the end of 

 March in all the wooded districts, and especially among the 

 ohve-groves and gardens, where its habits and nidification are 

 exactly those of our Greenfinch. It may at once be distin- 

 guished by its much smaller size — the whole length being one 

 inch (and the wing half an inch) shorter than in the European 

 bird, — and by the colours, which are much brighter — the head, 

 breast, abdomen, and vent being of a pure and brilliant yellow. 

 It is not found very high up on the mountains, nor in the 

 Jordan Valley. In its variation from our species, it presents 

 an interesting analogy to the Chlorospiza sinica (L.) of con- 

 tinental China, which varies similarly both in size and coloration 

 from the insular Chlorospiza kawarahiba (Tenim. and Schl.) of 

 Japan, 



The Goldfinch, Carduelis elegans, Stej)h., is one of the most 

 abundant of the Syrian avifauna, being found in every part of 

 the country at all seasons of the year. The great variety of 

 composite plants, some or other of which are always in seed, 



