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NATURAL HISTORY. 



existence, as it has been seen by them, and was shot by the son of their friend or neighbour. They 

 .are not, however, so far astray as Mr. Gould's Devonshire friend, who held the honour of his country 

 .at stake in the maintenance of his assertion that Humming-birds were common there. Then these 

 legends have the highest literary warrant : they are embodied in the journals of Lynch and M. de 

 Saulcy. The gallant commodore (certainly a most truthful narrator, and most trustworthy whenever 

 011 subjects within the range of his naval training and experience) saw the beautiful spangled 

 ' Humming-bird,' between the Dead Sea and Kerak. M. de Saulcy, yet more fortunate, not only saw 

 in the Ghor es Safieh, at the south end of the Dead Sea, ' Humming-birds with ruby and emerald frills,' 

 but afterwards obtained one of these wonders of the tropics, which, however, was never preserved, us 

 =an indiscriminating Cat carried it off from the dissecting table, where it had been left. 



" Our acquaintance with the Sun-bird commenced on the last day of the year at Jericho, when six 

 .specimens were obtained, close to our cam]) at Ain Sultan, the day after our arrival. The oases of the 



plains of Jericho appear to be its 

 metropolis, and we never met with 

 it excepting in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of water. But wherever 

 a few tamarisks, zizyphus-bushes, or 

 graceful ' retem ' shade a fountain 

 or straggling pool in some deep glen. 

 opening on the Dead Sea, there a 

 few occur. The larger oases, how- 

 ever, of Jericho at the north-west, 

 and Safieh at the south-east end of 

 the Dead Sea, are the resorts of 

 great numbers, which, though here 

 to be found in almost every tree, 

 are nowhere gregarious, but are 

 noisy and pugnacious, the males 

 chasing each other with loud cries, 

 and as tenacious of their respective 

 freeholds as Robins at home. The 

 note is clear and monotonous, very 

 much like the call of the Willow 

 Wren, but sharper, and often re- 

 minding one of the Blue Tit, yet 

 with a more hissing sound. This 

 is incessantly repeated from sunrise 



to evening, and the whereabouts of the male bird can at once be detected ; but to see him is not so 

 easy, as he ceaselessly hops in the centre of the very thickest and most impenetrable scrub, and darts very 

 quickly and suddenly across the open from tree to tree. The male is extremely restless, and as it twists 

 and clings to one twig after another, in search of insects, reminds one of the Titmouse much more than 

 of the Creeper in its actions. It has a curious jerking flap of the wings, opening and shutting them like 

 the Wall Creeper (Tichodroma muraria). Occasionally I have seen two rivals for the favours of a female 

 singing on the top of a tree, and pufling out the brilliant orange and red axillary tufts, which only at such 

 times are at all conspicuous. The female during the winter continually repeats the same monotonous 

 note, but almost always remains stationary, or creeping slowly about in the very centre of a bush. 

 One female had her quarters in a dense zizyphus-tree fifty yards from our tent, and was used as a 

 decoy-bird by one of our party, who used to go and sit under the tree every morning for a fortnight, 

 and would bring back two or three males, allured to their destruction by this fatal siren, who never 

 left her retreat at the report of the piece. Alas for humanity ! on the morning of our departure her 

 good service to this treacherous collector was rewarded by her own death, to be embalmed alongside of 



her many deceived admirers A few days after our visit to Carmel we again met with 



the Sun-bird in a deep gorge, the Wady Hamam, opening on to the plain of Gennesareth. Mr, 



JERICHO SUN-BIHD. (After Wolf.) 



