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



therefore, if it be possible, to restrict the name C. grmca to the 

 continental Greek form, and to assign Caccabis sawatilis (Bechst.) 

 to the Syrian. It is as truly a rock-haunter as the others. We 

 never found it on the plains, and it lays its eggs under bushes 

 on the hillsides. I have not been able to compare either the 

 egg or skin of Swiss specimens. 



Much more restricted in its range is the beautiful little Am- 

 moperdix heyi (Temm.), a Caccabis in miniature, of which the 

 only other species known is A. bonhami from India. This 

 lovely little bird, smaller than the Grey Partridge, abounds 

 in the rocks near the Dead Sea, but is never found more than 

 a few miles from that lake, though common in Arabia Petrsea. 

 It runs in large coveys, and is flushed with difficulty, as the 

 birds have a habit of separating and concealing themselves 

 behind stones without rising; but when once started, it has 

 a vigorous flight. It has a habit, singular for a Partridge, of 

 laying its eggs in holes and fissures of the rocks. These are 

 of a very delicate creamy-pink, wholly unspotted, and glossy, 

 and when fresh are, I think, the most beautiful of all Partridges' 

 eggs. In shape they are more elongated, and in colour richer 

 than those of A. bonhami. I once found a nest in a deep hole 

 in the side of a cliff" containing twenty-seven eggs, sixteen of 

 which were of the preceding year and addled, the others being 

 quite fresh. It was amusing to watch these little birds, scarcely 

 distinguishable in colour from the rocks among which they ran, 

 scrambling up the cliff's, working their heads from side to side, 

 as if to balance themselves. The savour of his flesh is not equal 

 to the beauty of his plumage, for it is as dry as the rocks he 

 inhabits; and, unlike the species of the genus Caccabis, there 

 is a great difference between the livery of the sexes. In both, 

 the legs are lemon-yellow, and the bill a rich bright orange ; 

 but the plumage of the female is sand-coloured, uniformly 

 mottled, but lighter on the under surface ; while the male is 

 darker on the head, reddish sand-coloured on the back and breast, 

 mottled on the rump and tail, with rich black and chestnut 

 streaks (not transverse bars) on the flanks and belly, and he wants 

 the spur on the tarsus. These diff'erences seem quite enough 

 to separate the genus Ammoperdix from Caccabis. 



