222 (yol. R. Meinertzliagen on the [Ibis, 



being 2i inches; in diameter. Tlie platform consists of roots, 

 straw, twine, grass and bent-stalks, the cup being lined with 

 cotton-waste, a few feathers, some fine grass, and tlower- 

 seeds. Several had a partial horse-hair lining. Clarke 

 notes that out of twenty nests found only three contained 

 snake-skin. 



When breeding, the parents display great anxiety, hovering 

 in a very beautiful manner over the nest, diving madly into 

 bushes, and hopping into the open with jerking tail. They 

 are normally the reverse of shy, and utter their lovely 

 song from a topmost branch or telegraph-wire. They often 

 feed in the open, jerking their terra-cotta tails erect with a 

 curious forward flicking of the wings and contraction of the 

 head and neck. 



Scotocerca inquieta. 



S. '}. ii}(pt'u'ta (Oretzschm.). 

 Onlv seen at one place — in the Juda?an hills, about ten 

 miles north of Jerusalem, where one was obtained on 24. x. 

 It does not differ from Egyptian and other Palestine 

 examples which T have examined. 



Prinia gracilis. 



P. </. pahrstbm Zedl. J. f. 0. 1011. pp. lOG-110. 

 Palestine and Asia ]\Iinor. 



In this race the upper parts are browner and paler than 

 in P. ff. delta' from the Nile Delta, specimens from Suez 

 appearing to be intermediate. Sladen (Ibis, April 1919) 

 refers this race to delta, but notices the difference which has 

 given it subspecific rank. 



Locally common and resident in the following localities : 

 Lower Jordan Valley and noith end of the Dead Sea, the 

 valleys of the Shephelah from Jibrin north at least for 

 twenty miles, in the coastal plain at Askalon, Jaffa, Ramleh, 

 and behind Acre. A few on Mount Carmel. 



A nest with three eggs was taken on Mount C'armel on 

 23. iv., and another with four eggs on 12. v. at Ramleh, both 

 clutches being fresh and of the pink type. The nest is com- 

 posed of coarse l)ents and stalks, thickly lined with thistle- 



