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



of large tufts of grass, with the roots, laid on the floor of the 

 cave. Mr. Shepherd generously presented me with the first- 

 fruits of our nesting-season. As we were descending, the bird 

 again and again returned close over head, and at length looked 

 into her home forlorn ; after which she commenced a series of 

 rapid gyrations, each circle wider as well as higher, until, after 

 watching her for a quarter of an hour, we lost sight of her alto- 

 gether. I have seen eggs stated to belong to this Vulture very 

 much spotted and coloured with rufous, but not more so than 

 those of the Griffon occasionally are ; but the only other egg of 

 the species I ever obtained in Africa was white like this, and per- 

 ceptibly thicker than the Griffon's. This eyrie near Tiberias was 

 by no means difficult of access, and was about two miles distant 

 from the immense colony of Griffons in the Wady Hamam. No 

 other Vultures bred near it, though there were several pairs of 

 Eagles of different species, and a few months later some Neo- 

 phrons. In this instance, unlike the Gypaete, the Cinereous 

 Vulture preferred solitude to the security of the almost inacces- 

 sible cliffs of the ravines. We never afterwards, not even in the 

 Lebanon, observed this noble bird. 



Gyps fulvus (Gm.) — Arab, Niss'r. The numbers of the 

 Griffon-Vultures in every part of Palestine are amazing; and 

 they are found at all seasons of the year. I do not think that I 

 ever surveyed a landscape without its being enlivened by the cir- 

 cling of a party of Griffons. Many colonies of eyries came under 

 our observation in the goi'ge of the Wady Kelt (the supposed 

 Cherith), near Jericho ; in the cliffs near Heshbon under Mount 

 Nebo ; in the ravine of the Jabbok ; in a gorge near Amman, the 

 ancient Kabbah : two large colonies inhabit wadys on the north 

 and east sides of Mount Carmel, whence we procured several 

 eggs; but the most populous of all were the "Griffonries" in the 

 stupendous cliffs of the Wady Hamam, "the robbers' caves" to 

 the south-west, and in the deep glen of the Wady Leimun at 

 the north-west of the plain of Gennesaret. In either of these 

 sublime gorges, the reverberating echoes of a single rifle would 

 bring forth Griffons by the hundred from their recesses. I 

 counted on one occasion a hundred and twenty thus roused. 



