68 Rev, H. B. Tristram on the Ornitholugy of Palestine. 



The geographical position of Palestine, as an outlying pro- 

 vince of the Palsearctic region, is clearly illustrated by the 

 general character of its fauna. Northern and European forms 

 predominate on the coasts and in the hill-country, but in the 

 interior v^q find some startling divergences from this type. 

 Limited in area, a slip of coast territory, 200 miles in its extreme 

 length, and not above 90 in width, it could scarcely be expected 

 to vary much in character from the neighbouring Mediterranean 

 countries. Along the whole coast, on the rich maritime plains, 

 and on the western slopes of the highlands which rise behind 

 these plains, everything partakes of the character of the fauna 

 and flora of the Mediterranean basin, with a slight admixture of 

 Egyptian immigrants. The Gulls and Petrels which skim the 

 shores are the same as those which dash down the Bosphorus, or 

 dip in the harbour of Alexandria ; the same Raptors descend from 

 the hills as sweep the inlets of Smyrna, or earn a scanty subsist- 

 ence among the hungry isles of Greece ; the Russian winters 

 dismiss from inhospitable plateaux almost the same species by 

 divergent routes to the west and the east of the Mediterranean ; 

 whilst returning spring tempts but few Warblers from the scorch- 

 ing south, whom a spirit of adventure does not induce to ramble 

 still further towards the north. 



But, so soon as we have crossed the Mediterranean watershed, 

 we are encountered by types of another origin and widely dif- 

 ferent affinities, which, to whatever province they may appertain, 

 are certainly not Palaearctic in their relationships. To under- 

 stand the cause of this, we must recollect that the two great ridges 

 of central Syria, the Libanus and the Antilibanus, do not ter- 

 minate, as a cursory inspection of our maps might* lead us to 

 suppose, at the northern frontier of Palestine. They project 

 themselves far southwards, though at a less elevation, running 

 in two parallel ranges, separated from each other by the deep 

 ehasm of the Ghor, or Jordan valley, until the western range, 

 after forming, by its broken and irregular spurs, the hill-country 

 of Galilee, then gathers more compactly into the mountains of 

 Ephraim and Benjamin, is spread out into the hill-country of 

 Jordan, and finally is lost and expanded into the high table-land 

 of western Arabia Petrsea, which forms the watershed of the 



