Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 207 



afford an unlimited supply of its favourite food. It breeds in 

 equally large numbers by the Dead Sea and on the slopes of 

 Hermon and Lebanon. Not so the pretty little Serin, Serinus 

 hortulanus, Koch, which we found only in the winter season, in 

 the little glens and wooded disti'icts near the sea, and never 

 inland. Near Beyrout it is very common, but it leaves for 

 the north in March. Serinus pusillus (Pall.), I know only by a 

 single specimen procured on the Lebanon near Beyrout ; but my 

 new species, Serinus aurifrons (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 447*), is 

 rather plentiful in the higher regions both of Lebanon and 

 Hermon, not descending, however, lower than 4000 feet above 

 the sea, and a permanent resident. I believe that the Serinus 

 sijriacus of Bonaparte (Consp. Av. i. p. 523) may have been an 

 immature specimen of this bird ; but the description is vague, 

 and in some respects incorrect. It bears no resemblance to 

 Serinus hortulanus, except in the relative distribution of its colo- 

 ration, and cannot possibly be mistaken for it. The bright 

 golden-yellow forehead, light-coloured back, and uniform yellow 

 of the under surface without any striation, as well as its greater 

 size, mark it at once as distinct. The tail also is longer in 

 proportion, 2*25 inches instead of 1*875 ; and the rectrices have 

 all their outer webs yellow, and the inner broadly bordered with 

 white. 



Our first acquaintance with this pretty little bird was in the 

 pear-orchards above Rashiey, on the north side of Hermon, 

 where we were attracted by its clear and varied notes, which 

 were new to us, long before we could detect the musician 

 ensconced in the foliage. The same afternoon we obtained 

 four more specimens; and Mr. Bartlett succeeded in cleverly 

 entrapping a female on her nest. There is little difference 

 between the sexes in plumage ; the nest is by no means so 

 neat as that of the Goldfinch, and shallower, rather like that of 

 the Common Linnet ; and the eggs are marked like those of the 



* S. corpore supra flavido, fusco striate ; fronte, pileo, uropygio, scapula- 

 ribus aureo-Havis, fronte pyiccipue aurca ; corpore tolo subtus fiaves- 

 cente, nee striato ; collari flavissimo ; remigibus uig-ris, flavo exterae 

 linibatis; scapularibus llavidis; rectricibus omnibus nigris, albido 

 externe limbatis et dimidiatini interne albidis. Long, tota poll. 6"15, 

 alse 3, caudae 2'0. 



