from the Syrian Desert. 309 



Pigeons, Egyptian Vultures, Kites, Alpine Swifts, and 

 Saker Falcons. A wonderful sight it was, all these 

 birds wheeling about in the air, and not one leaving the 

 neighbourhood, as all were nesting." 



Finally leaving Kuryatein on April 15th the travellers 

 reached Nebk in the afternoon of the next day, and Damascus 

 (via Kutifeh) on the 19th of April. 



After a short stay in Damascus, Mr. Carruthers and his 

 friend paid a visit to Petra, which is now easily reached by 

 the new Hedjaz Railway to M'aan, designed ultimately to 

 go on to Mecca. From M'aan donkeys conveyed them to 

 Petra in about six hours. A few birds were obtained there, 

 Agrobates galactodes, Amydrus tristrami, and Carpodacus 

 sinaiticus. 



During their three months' absence from Beirut, Messrs. 

 Carruthers and Miller collected 155 specimens of mammals 

 and birds. Of these the first offer was naturally made to 

 the American College at Beirut, where Prof. Day selected 

 43 specimens for the Museum. The remainder were 

 brought to England and were acquired by the British 

 Museum. Of these, 87 were birds, which, by the kind 

 permission of the authorities of that Institution, I have been 

 able to examine and of which I now propose to give an 

 account. 



I regret exceedingly that I was absent from England 

 when Mr. Carruthers returned from Syria, and that he had 

 left this country to go on the Ruwenzori Expedition (see 

 above, p. 222) before I came back, so that I was not able 

 to meet him, and get him to write some field-notes, which 

 would have added greatly to the value of the present paper. 

 But the great Syrian Desert is so little explored that I 

 think it advisable to publish a complete list of tne species 

 of which examples were obtained by Messrs. Carruthers 

 and Miller, although they have been, of course, mostly 

 enumerated by Canon Tristram in his standard work on the 

 ' Fauna and Flora of Palestine/ 



The 87 skins from the Syrian Desert acquired by the 

 British Museum are referable to 43 species, all of which 



