Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 209 



wholly white. But before describing the species as new, I am 

 anxious to have an opportunity of examining Persian and 

 Affghan specimens. De Filippi gives the Calandra as common 

 in Persia (Viagg. Pers. p. 349). 



Of the Colwnbida, Columba palumbus is spread in countless 

 myriads over the wooded parts of the country in winter. Never, 

 even in the lowlands of Scotland, have I seen such flights as 

 cover the forests of Gilead at that season. The flights of 

 Passenger-Pigeons in America alone can compare with them. 

 The fellahin villagers of Gilead adopt a cruel yet simple device 

 by which large numbers of Ring-Doves are taken in the season 

 of migration. A bird is snared, its eyelids sewn up with thread, 

 and then it is tied to a perch, and placed on a tree, where the 

 spectacle of the captive vainly flapping its wings attracts a 

 continuous crowd of its fellows, many of whom fall victims to 

 the weapons of the fowlers, who are in ambush close by. It 

 would be inexplicable how such multitudes of Pigeons can find 

 a living in a comparatively uncultivated country, did we not know 

 that all the ColumbidiE feed greedily on the foliage of any species 

 of leguminous plants, and that the clovers and Astragali are the 

 characteristic flora of this country, coming into leaf in winter, 

 and withering in April and May, by which time all the Ring- 

 Doves have left. Indeed I doubt whether any remain so late 

 as May, though possibly a few linger in Carmel and the higher 

 grounds near the coast. Of the other Pigeons, Columba cenas 

 occurs, but the suitable localities are few and far between. We 

 never obtained it in this expedition, though I did so in 1858. 

 Columba livia, on the contrary, is extremely abundant on the 

 coast and highlands west of Jordan. My specimens can in no 

 way be distinguished from those from the Orkney Islands. 

 But inland and in the Jordan valley its place is taken by the 

 allied species Columba schimperi, Bp. I am at a loss to dis- 

 criminate this bird from the description of Columba turricola, Bp., 

 from South Italy and Persia, " Jl croupion clair, gris-bleu, mais 

 jamais blanc"*; while of C. schimperi he says ''plus forte et 

 j)lus blanchtitre que la commune C. livia." Now all my 



* Coup d'oeil sur I'ordre des Pigeons (Extrait des Comptes Rendus, 

 xxxix. et xl.). Paris: 1855, p. 23. 



