Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 259 



TiNNUNCULUs ALAUDARius, G. R. Gray. The Kestrel is 

 excessively common in every part of the country throughout the 

 year, up to the confines of the southern desert. In the Ghor and 

 in the eastern forests, among the ruins of Amman and Gerash, 

 in the desolate gorges of the Dead Sea, among the luxuriant 

 gardens of the coast, and in the sacred recesses of the mosques 

 of Omar and Hebron it equally abounds. It is generally grega- 

 rious, ten or twenty pairs breeding in the same ruins, and rearing 

 their young about the end of March. It often builds its nest 

 in the recesses of the caves which are occupied by the Griffons ; 

 and is the only bird which the Eagles appear to permit to live 

 in close proximity to them. At Amman, too, it builds in the 

 ruins in company with the Jackdaws ; and in several places, as 

 at Lydda and Nazareth, large colonies are mixed indiscriminately 

 with those of the following species. The number of nests we 

 came across without searching for them was enormous. 



TiNNUNCULUS CENCHRis (Frisch). Returns with the Swal- 

 lows in March, and at once consorts with its congener, the com- 

 mon Kestrel. It may be seen everywhere, in the open glades, 

 or among the lanes between the gardens in the suburbs of the 

 villages pursuing insects, and especially catching cockchafers 

 towards evening. It breeds, so far as we have observed, inva- 

 riably in communities, usually in narrow fissures of the rocks or 

 in the crevices of ruins, not generally in very inaccessible situa- 

 tions, but always in so narrow a cleft, and at such a depth in, 

 that the eggs are hard to extract. I never found a colony with- 

 out many of the common Kestrel breeding in the same place. 

 The largest rookeries of this bird we met with were in the towns 

 of Lydda and Ramleh, and in the top of an old quarried cave 

 (perfectly protected by prickly fern) in the town of Nazareth. 

 Although the two species are so closely allied, there can be no 

 difficulty in discriminating the eggs ; and we found that the Arab 

 boys knew the difference between the two species at once, calling 

 one the black-nailed, and the other the white-nailed " bashik." 



AsTUB PALUMBARius (L.). The Gos-Hawk cannot be looked 

 on as a bird of Palestine south of the wooded district of Lebanon. 

 We never met with it ; but Signor Fidas, a zealous Italian coU 



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