Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithologij of Palestine. 257 



Perhaps it is rather less familiar, and we found its nests generally 

 in the retired wadys. Neither of these Kites breed until some 

 time after their return ; and we took two eggs near the sources 

 of the Jordan in a cliff the last week of May. One nest had 

 three eggs, which were all remarkably small, and with scarcely 

 any colouring except dirt. 



Elanus CiERULEUs (Dcsf.) ; Falco melanopterus, Daud. An- 

 other summer visitant, but very scarce and shy. It was observed 

 once or twice in thickets near the Jordan, and once in the north 

 near Shef Amar. 



Falco peregrinus, L. It is very interesting to observe the 

 clearly defined geographical ranges of the different Falcons in 

 Palestine, which they would appear never to transgress. The 

 Peregrine, nowhere numerous, occurs at all times of the year in 

 all suitable localities near the coast, and on the western slopes 

 of the watershed of Central Palestine. To the eastward of the 

 crest we never observed it. It extends from the Lebanon to the 

 south of Jordan. During the winter we frequently met with it 

 as far inland as Nazareth ; and in the beginning of March I shot 

 a female from a palm-tree in a garden at Jaffa, where it was 

 evidently, from the state of its lower plumage, incubating. The 

 same restriction of the Peregrine to the coastline 1 have observed 

 in North Africa ; but there it is replaced inland by the Falco har- 

 barus ; in Syria by the following species : — 



Falco lanarius, Linn. By far the most common of the 

 large Falcons, and universally distributed throughout the rocky 

 wadys on both sides of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and as far 

 north as the foot of Hermon. It is a permanent resident, and, 

 as we were told, reoccupies the same eyrie year after year. A 

 nest of four eggs was taken in the gorge of the Wady Kelt, near 

 Jericho, on February 29th; and theLannerwas breeding in four 

 or five places in the Wady Hamam and Wady Leimun, near Gen- 

 nesaret, in April. No region is too desolate or dreary for this 

 noble bird. On the stupendous rock of Masada, facing the Dead 

 Sea, a Lanner dropped a Pochard-Duck on being fired at; and we 

 also saw a pair at Jebel Usdum, the salt mountain at the south 

 end of the lake. It seems to avoid the forests ; for though very 



N. S. VOL. I. T 



