Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 73 



astray as Mr. Gould's Devonshire friend, who held the honour 

 of his county at stake in the maintenance of his assertion that 

 Humming-birds were common there. Then these legends have 

 the highest literary warrant : they are embodied in the journals 

 of Lynch and of M. de Saulcy. The gallant Commodore (cer- 

 tainly a most truthful narrator, and most trustworthy, when- 

 ever on subjects within the range of his naval training and 

 experience) saw the beautiful-spangled " Humming-bird,^' be- 

 tween the Dead Sea and Kerak. 



M. de Saulcy, yet more fortunate, not only saw, in the Ghor 

 es Safieh, at the south end of the Dead Sea, " Humming-birds 

 with ruby and emerald frills,'' but afterwards obtained one of 

 these wonders of the tropics, which however was never pre- 

 served, as an undiscriminating cat carried it off from the dis- 

 secting table, where it had been left. 



Our acquaintance with the Sun-bird commenced on the last 

 day of the year at Jericho, when six specimens were obtained, 

 close to our camp at Ain Sultan, the day after our arrival. 

 The oases of the plains of Jericho appear to be its metro- 

 polis, and we never met with it excepting in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of water. But wherever a few tamarisks, 

 zizyphus-bushes, or graceful " retem " shade a fountain or 

 straggling pool in some deep glen opening on the Dead Sea, there 

 a few occur. The larger oases, however, of Jericho at the north- 

 west and Safieh at the south-east end of the Dead Sea are the 

 resorts of great numbers, which, though here to be found in almost 

 every tree, are nowhere gregarious, but are noisy and pugnacious, 

 the males chasing each other with loud cries, and as tenacious 

 of their respective freeholds as Robins at home. The note is clear 

 and monotonous, very much like the call of the Willow- Wren, 

 but sharper, and often reminding one of the Blue Tit, yet with a 

 more hissing sound. This is incessantly repeated from sunrise to 

 evening, and the whereabouts of the male bird can at once be 

 detected ; but to see him is not so easy, as he ceaselessly hops in 

 the centre of the very thickest and most impenetrable scrub, and 

 darts very quickly and suddenly across the open from tree to tree. 

 The male is extremely restless, and, as it twists and clings to one 

 twig after another in search of insects, reminds one of the Tit- 



