1920.] Birds of Southern Palestine. 247 



Anas acuta. 



.1. a. acuta L. 

 A not uncoinmon winter visitor to tlie coastal plain, being 

 seen from 27. x. to 11. v. 



Spatula clypeata (L.). 



A common winter visitor to the coastal plain and the 

 Jordan Valley, where eleven were seen at the north end of 

 the Dead' Sea in early November. The first arrivals on the 

 coast were a pair of adults on 10. x. at the mouth of the 

 Wadi Gaza, the cock being in almost full eclipse. The last 

 seen was on 15. v. 



Nyroca ferina. 



S. f. ferina (L.). 

 A party of thirty was seen on the Julie Marshes on 

 16.iii. Not otherwise observed. 



Nyroca fuligula L. 



A female was obtained at Gaza on 7. vii. Others were 

 seen in December and March. 



Bucephala clangula. 

 B. c. clangula (D.). 



A young drake was obtained at Shellal on 25. xi., and 

 Sladen secured a female at Ycbna on 20. i. Not otherwise 

 seen. 



Podiceps cristatus. 



B . c. cristatus (L.j. 



An adult female in breeding-plumage was shot on Lake 

 Galilee on 19. ii. These birds do not, according to Tristram, 

 breed there, but probably do so on Lake Huleh. 



Columl)a 11 via. 



C. I. pala'stincc Zedl. 



A common resident in the tShephelah and in the Jordan 

 V'^alley. All birds seen had an entirely grey lower back. 

 They invariably breed either in a disused well or in a cave. 



