Rough Notes from the Mediterranean. 311


spite of their unsavoury habits, they look very fine on the wing

and a Griffon is distinguished looking anywhere. I found the

large Raptores strangely fascinating to watch when at large, in

England one marks with red ink the day on which anything

bigger than a Kestrel is seen.


March 21st, a pair of Kites swooped down quite close to

me ; from their dark colour I do not think they were Milvus

ictinus, which is the common species in winter, but no sooner

does the Common Kite retire in the spring than its place is taken

by the Black Kite {M. migrans') to which species the pair I saw

very likely belonged. The Raven ( Corvus corax) was much in

evidence on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, it did not

seem very wild as I saw several quite close—-it is rather interest¬

ing to note that some were seen in the near neighbourhood of

the traditional site of the cave where Elijah was fed by these

birds. I saw Hoopoes ( Upupa epops ) at Jericho; I do not think

these birds are so conspicuous as their striking plumage would

lead one to suppose, of course in flight the banded wings and

tail show up clearly, but on alighting at a little distance the

bird is not so easy to see as one would imagine, the black and

white stripes merging together somewhat as in the Zebra, which

becomes practically invisible at a comparatively short distance.


On the same day that I saw the Kites I noticed a flock of

Swifts, ( Cypselus apus) I believe, as this species arrives about this

date; the large Alpine Swift (C. melba ) is also a local summer

migrant, but the little Martin-like (C. afjfinis ) is a permanent

resident.


It is rather strange that I did not notice either the Roller

or Bee-eater which should have been by this time arriving in

flocks, such brightly coloured birds should have obtruded them¬

selves to the least observant.


But the bird which perhaps interested me most in

Jerusalem was the Senegal Turtle Dove ( Turtur senegalensis). This

little Dove swarmed everywhere, being quite tame, flying about

the houses and open spaces just as the Wood-Pigeon does in

Eondon, I did not actually see any nests, but from the way they

were flying in and out of holes in the walls it seemed as if they

muse be nesting there, certainly a curious site for a Turtle-Dove



