Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 255 



plentiful in the plains of Phoenicia and Acre during winter, 

 resorting to the gardens and orchards, or perching on trees in 

 the open plains. It is also common at that season in the Leba- 

 non. We shot one in December close to Mount Carmel, the 

 most southerly point at which we observed it ; but it never after- 

 wards came under our notice. 



BuTEO FEROX (S. Gmcl.) ; B. rufinus, Riipp. This magnifi- 

 cent and aquiline Buzzard is extremely numerous in every part 

 of the country, and at all times of the year. It congregates in 

 small flocks in the orangeries and olive-yards behind the Phoe- 

 nician towns, consorting with Ciixaetus gallicus, and is equally 

 abundant in the wildest recesses of the eastern mountains, or on 

 the bare and boundless plains of the southern wilderness. In 

 the south of Judsea in winter it is decidedly gregarious, but 

 during the breeding-season is segregated in pairs in the wooded 

 wadys. We found the nests both on trees and in rocks, gene- 

 rally in the latter. The complement of eggs is two or three, 

 generally the latter. The first nest we took was on Mount 

 Carmel, on a rocky ledge easy of access, on March 22nd, and 

 which contained three eggs, quite fresh and beautifully marked ; 

 the last fresh eggs we found were a pair near Mount Tabor, on 

 May 1st. The eggs are of course larger than, but no way difl^er- 

 ently coloured from, those of the Common Buzzard. The nest 

 is large, but more neatly made than those of the Eagles, and 

 well lined with woollen rags and the soft withered leaves of bull- 

 rushes and flags, and plastered with mud. The plumage of the 

 Palestine specimens is very rufous, and we shot breeding birds 

 both with and without the bars on the tail. I do not think it is 

 a carrion-feeder ; but it preys upon lizards and serpents, as well 

 as on small quadrupeds. We seldom found traces of feathered 

 game in its maw. It is called by the Arabs " Shahm.^' 



Pernis apivorus (L.). Bather scarce, and only occasionally 

 noticed by us, but undoubtedly a constant resident. We ob- 

 served it in November and December near the coast, and saw it 

 in a collection in Beyrout, where it had been shot in autumn. 

 Mr. Bartlett shot a specimen near Nazareth in April. 



MiLVUs iCTiNUs, Sav. During winter this is the only Kite 



