Birds by the Wayside 111 



street scenes, though it did add deeper pathos to the ceremo- 

 nial of prayer in the WaiHng- Place of the Jews. The rain 

 poured down during our visit to the Garden Tomb, but it did 

 not dampen the cheerfulness of a Great Titmouse (Partis 

 major) that chirped softly in one of the trees. It rained 

 during most of our visit to the Temple Area, where no birds 

 were seen, though it is the roosting place for Ravens, Hooded 

 Crows, Jackdaws and Rooks. The Ravens were seen on all 

 other days and in other places in the neighborhood of Jeru- 

 salem in small numbers. Pigeons were not seen in any abund- 

 ance. It was these birds, not Ravens, that were seen in the 

 deep, narrow gorge through which flows the brook Cherith, 

 where high up against the face of a nearly vertical cliff on 

 the spot supposed to have been the refuge of Elijah stands 

 St. George's Convent ; about it a flock of Pigeons kept com- 

 pany with the anchorites in their lonely retreat. 



Only a few of Turtur senegalensis were seen, though the 

 species is sedentary in Palestine as well as in Egypt. The 

 several common names of Palm, Egyptian, and Collared 

 Turtledove are all applied to this species. Unfortunately 

 our visit was in advance of the arrival of the Turtledove 

 (Turtur auritus), whose coming has for centuries been 

 counted a harbinger of spring. In inimitable verse nature- 

 loving Solomon did honor to this season, that captivates 

 man's senses of feeling, seeing, hearing and smelling, when 

 he wrote : — 



" For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; 



" The flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the sing- 

 ing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in 

 the land ; 



" The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines 

 with the tender grape give a good smell." 



That the ancients did not leave the entire subject of mi- 

 gration for modern investigations is revealed by this com- 

 ment of Jeremiah upon the punctual arrival of certain birds : 

 " Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times ; 

 and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the 



