WAGTAILS AND PIPITS. 77 



Cochrane and I pursued it in vain ; but while searching among the cliffs for Vultures' nests, Mr. 

 Cochraiie pulled down from the extremity of the twig of a hyssop plant what he imagined to be an old 

 uest of a Grass Warbler (Drymoica gracilis). It had the external appearance of a loose ball of 

 rubbish, such as might have been floated down by a sudden flood and caught in the branch of a tree,, 

 After tossing it about for some time he threw it towards me, and on examining it I was dismayed 

 to liiid it a fresh nest, very firm and compact inside, with a small hole in the side, and containing two 

 broken fresh eggs, elongated, of a greenish-white, with a zone of darker green-grey spots near the 

 larger end. We searched in vain for another, and mourning our ill-luck, left the neighbourhood the 

 next day. On the 23rd of May I returned to the same place, and while climbing up to a cave, the 

 resort of the Rufous Swallow (Hirundo ruftda), I struck with my head a little ball of straw and 

 leaves attached to the extremity of a castor-oil plant, not two yards from the spot where Mi. 

 Cochraiie had found his nest. It contained three eggs, quite fresh, and was beautifully shaded both 

 from the sun and from observation. I was fortunate enough to secure the male bird in full plumage. 

 Close by was another nest, from which one young bird had been reared ; and we watched the female 

 feeding her young family of three in the hyssop overhead. I am inclined to believe that they had 

 bred twice, for we could not make out a third pair. Meanwhile, I had returned in April to our old 

 quarters at Ain Sultan, near Jericho, accompanied only by a single muleteer and one guard. On the 

 afternoon of my arrival, on the 13th of April, I discovered by myself no less than seven nests one 

 with three eggs, one with two hard set, one building, and four with young. All were in precisely 

 similar situations, suspended from, the extremity of a small twig hanging down in the centre of a 

 ' nubk ' tree, whose thorny branches spread in a circle so close to the ground that I had in every 

 instance to creep on all-fours till I could get under the trees. The nests in these places were perfectly 

 inaccessible to the attacks of the serpents and lizards which abound there. The nests are at first 

 very neat and compact, long straws and fibres being attached to the extremity of the drooping bough, 

 and on these the bag is woven. When finished, a few loose leaves and straggling straws are loosely 

 fastened all round, to elude observation and remove the appearance of art. I kept three young birds 

 for ten days in a box, and fed them with bunches of the blossom of a jasmine and convolvulus. The 

 hen bird lingered always in the neighbourhood of the tent, doubt- 

 less attracted by their cries ; and when we were about to leave I 

 turned out the two surviving captives, and was glad to see the parent 

 take to them at once, and attend to them in an adjoining tree."* 



THE SECOND SUB-ORDER OF THE PASSERIFORMES. 

 THE FRINGILLIFORMES, FINCH-LIKE BIRDS. 



All the members of the Fringilliform group of perching birds 

 have only nine primary quills, the first being very long, as may be 

 seen in the subjoined sketch of a Pipit's wing. The families which 

 make up this sub-order are seven in number, and it is difficult to 

 arrange them in any successive order, for they are all more or less 

 closely related to other forms which are placed in one or other of the 

 remaining orders of the Passeriformes. Thus the Wagtails and 

 Pipits (Motacillidce) are nearly allied to the Larks (Alaudidce), the 



TIT 11 / i r .?. 7 \ , il TTT 11 / r* T T \ i WING OF P 



American Warblers (Mniotiltidoj) to the true Warblers (tiylviidai), the SECONDARIES 



American Creepers (Ccerebidce) to the true Creepers, or Certhiimorphce, 



the Flower-peckers (Dicreidce) to the Sun-birds (Cinnyrimorphai), the Swallows (Ilirundinidce) to 

 the Flycatchers (Muscicapidw), the Finches (FringillidcK) to the Weaver-birds (Ploceidce), and 

 the Hang-nests (Icteridw) to the Starlings (Sturnidw). As it is obvious that all these relation- 

 ships cannot be shown in a linear arrangement, each family will have to be considered separately, and 

 its relations explained as the work progresses. In fact, it is impossible in any way to arrange the 

 families of birds in a straight line, any more than one can range the countries of Europe in direct 

 succession, a fresh start having to be made every now and then. 



* "Ibis," 1865, p. 72. 

 153 



