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



society. Their capture was no easy task, as they never approached 

 the cliffs till toward evening, and then, unless they could be 

 brought down on a little projecting promontory near the edge 

 of the wady, it was in vain to hope to secure the spoils. After 

 two or three shots, they became far too wary to afford another 

 chance. 



Unlike the Sun-birds, they mount to the highest portions 

 of the enclosing mountains of the Ghor; and Mr, Bartlett 

 obtained a single specimen, consorting with Cypselus melba, 

 near the highest part of Mount Ajalon, east of the Jordan. 

 But it was not until the 1st of April that, in company with 

 Mr. Cochrane, I secured the nest and eggs. Under an over- 

 hanging ledge in the fine ravine to the south-west of the Plain 

 of Gennesaretj at the height of 800 feet from the bottom of the 

 wady, we discovered a cluster of nests, about twelve in number, 

 huddled together in one mass on the roof of an open cavern, 

 upwards of twenty feet from its floor. The nests were large, 

 circular, each about half a sphere, and of the capacity of about a 

 quart — a very great size for so small a bird — and composed of 

 straws, large and small feathers, and fine grrass, very strongly 

 aaiglutinated together, and as firmly attached also to the rock. 

 So stout was the consistency of this felting, that it was with 

 some difficulty the nests could be either separated or torn 

 asunder. The saliva of the bird must be the gluten employed ; 

 and the construction exhibits a marked approach to the archi- 

 tecture of the genus Collocalia, the Edible Swift. The out- 

 sides of the nests were decorated with a liberal supply of the 

 loose downy feathers of the Egyptian Vulture, slightly attached 

 by gluten — a covering which I have observed to be omitted in 

 the nests built inside caverns ; and there is no warm lining what- 

 ever. After laying inefi'ectual siege for half a day, we were 

 reduced to the very vulgar and unsatisfactory expedient of collect- 

 ing all the sticks we could obtain, splicing them together, and 

 with a fork at the top, tearing down the nests as best we might, 

 while one of the party attempted to catch the eggs as they fell 

 in an open butterfly-net. Sad was the havoc, and loud and in- 

 dignant the complaints of the birds as they dashed backwards 

 and forwards overhead. But, besides many fragments, we did 



