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



lector at Beyrout, showed me the skin of one he had purchased 

 in the flesh in the market of Beyrout. 



AcciPiTER Nisus (L.). Very common about olive-yards and 

 clumps of wood in winter in the south^ especially between Jeru- 

 salem and Jaffa. It also resorts to the oases and shrubby spots 

 near the Dead Sea; and is plentiful about the Sea of Galilee^ the 

 town of Nablous, and wherever small birds, especially the Marsh- 

 Sparrow {Passer salicarius), are found. It disappears in April, 

 but still remains in the high grounds of Lebanon and the Anti- 

 Lebanon. 



AcciPiTER BREViPES (Scvcrzow). I caunot say whether this 

 pretty little Sparrow-Hawk is a migrant; but we certainly 

 never obtained it until April. Still it may have often escaped 

 our notice, and been taken for the common Sparrow-Hawk in 

 winter, especially near Jericho. The few we identified or shot 

 seemed more stealthy in their movements than their congeners ; 

 flying up water-courses under the bushes, betaking themselves 

 to thickets, and remaining under cover of the brushwood. 



Circus ^erugingsus (L.). The Marsh-Harrier is very com- 

 mon throughout the year on all the open ground, and far more 

 abundant than any of the other Harriers. We obtained it in 

 every variety of plumage. One in my collection, a male, shot 

 in March, has the shoulders and tail a silvery grey, and the 

 primaries black, as if it were making an effort to assume the 

 pallid plumage of the males of the other species. 



Circus cyaneus (L.). This is also a common bird on the 

 plains, and a permanent resident. 



Circus cineraceus (Montagu). Twice obtained by us near 

 Tiberias and on the Plain of Gennesaret in spring. Though 

 we did not shoot it in winter, we have no other grounds for sup- 

 posing it to be migratory. 



Circus swainsoni. Smith; C. pallidus, Sykes. I think 

 this bird is more common than either of the preceding species, 

 as several specimens were shot by different members of our 

 society at different seasons. It is always to be found about the 



