Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithologij of Palestine. 71 



of Galilee, all are of an African character, and most of them 

 identical with the fishes of the Nile. Of the genus Chromis, 

 a peculiarly African genus, we find four species, one of them, 

 Chr'omis nilotica, identical with the common Egyptian fish, and 

 three other species not hitherto described. Moreover the Lake 

 of Galilee is the most northerly spot at which any member of 

 this genus has yet been discovered ; and here, at the northern 

 limit of the family, we find uo less than four species — a most 

 unusual proportion in an outlying region. Further, the genus 

 Hemichromis was originally founded upon two species brought 

 from the Gaboon river. Last year Dr. Kirk, of Dr. Living- 

 stone's expedition, brought home no less than seven species from 

 the Lake Nyassa ; and now another species of this very restricted 

 genus appears from the Lake of Galilee. 



Surely these coincidences point to an ancient connexion 

 between the Jordan and the Red Sea; and that the Lake of Galilee 

 is perhaps only the most northern of that long line of inland 

 seas which Speke, Burton, Livingstone, and other explorers have 

 been so rapidly mapping out on the eastern side of the African 

 continent. 



Presuming, from its peculiar ichthyological fauna, the vast 

 antiquity of that depression, we may naturally expect to find 

 strong African affinities in its avifauna likewise. Not that the 

 most locomotive group in nature can ever be found so restricted 

 by geographical boundaries as the inhabitants of inland waters ; 

 but if there be any truth in the principles of geographical distri- 

 bution, they ought to vary similarly, and some traces of the former 

 African connexion of the valley should appear even in its orni- 

 thology. And this view is borne out by the results of our expe- 

 dition. The number of species of birds obtained in Palestine 

 was 322. Of these 58 are either peculiar or common to N.E. 

 Africa; 7 species are either Indian, or find their most nearly 

 allied congeners in the Indian and Persian fauna; 3] species of the 

 58 are peculiarly desert forms, and are either new or have been 

 already included in Riippell's accounts of the Arabian fauna ; 

 260 of the whole number are included in the lists of the birds 

 of South-eastern Europe or of Asia Minor. It is to be noted that 

 all the species of an African character are obtained principally. 



