Rev. II. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 331 



and S. hybrida retires to the marshes of Huleh for nidification. 

 The only other species obtained were S. anglica, on sand-spits 

 and small lagoons north of Beyrout, S. caspia, S. nigra, and 

 S. minuta. The Mediterranean Shearwater {Pvffinus barolii, 

 Bonelli), so like our own P. anglorum, and scarcely differing 

 except in its brown-black plumage, may be seen skimming along 

 shore, and I picked up one under Mount Carmel. Both species 

 of Pelican are recorded among the birds of Palestine ; but Pele- 

 canus crispus was the only species that came under my own 

 observation. I saw adult specimens of both in a local collec- 

 tion at Beyrout, and there is no reason to question their claim 

 to a place in the list. Phalacrocorax carbo is very abundant 

 on the coast, and also regularly visits the mouth of the Jordan, 

 where I little expected to meet with him, sitting on a "snag" 

 and watching for the stupefied fishes. The only other species of 

 Cormorant met with was P. pygmceus, on the Leontes and other 

 streams flowing into the Mediterranean. We did not observe 

 it on the Jordan, where, however, it might easily have have es- 

 caped our notice. 



The Ostrich, Struthio camelus, only claims a place in the 

 fauna of Palestine by its occasional appearance in the Belka, 

 on its south-east extremity, where it is a straggler from Central 

 Arabia. Xenophon speaks of its abundance in his time in 

 Assyria (Anab. i. cap. 5) ; and we have traditional accounts of 

 its former existence as far east as Scinde. All the other wild 

 animals named by Xenophon are still found in the region of 

 the Euphrates and Tigris — a fact which makes the rapid retro- 

 cession of the Ostrich the more remarkable. But, from the 

 very frequent reference to this bird throughout the Scriptures of 

 the Old Testament, it was evidently familiar to the Jews, and, 

 no doubt, roamed through the southern wilderness and Arabia 

 Petrsea as well as on the eastern frontier. I possess a portion of 

 an Ostrich's skin (the back, neck, and wings), intended for a 

 sort of mat of state, which had been captured in the Belka by 

 the Sheikh Aghyle Agha, and given by him to my friend 

 Mr. T. B. Sandwith, when Consul at Caiffa. 



My notes have now embraced 329 species. Closer research 

 will no doubt add many more to the list ; but a catalogue of over 



