Birds by the Wayside 113 



horizontal face of each terrace, being a foot or two in width, 

 " switch-backs " into its nearest neighbors above and below, 

 from which it is separated in the widest places by a space of 

 a few feet only. An explanation, which may be the true 

 one, comes to mind : /t is that the tops of the terraces are 

 the paths beaten by the feet of the flocks that have fed upon 

 these hillsides for thousands of years, and the space between 

 the terraces is measured by the distance a sheep or goat can 

 reach while grazing. 



There is a suggestion of punitive measures in the ex- 

 pression " to send him to Jericho." Why this journey should 

 be considered a punishment is a puzzle to me, especially since 

 Jericho was the only place in Palestine that I was sorry to 

 leave. Its antiquities do not tax our credulity. There is the 

 recently excavated mound, in which are uncovered portions 

 of the ruined walls of ancient Jericho, and nearby is a spring, 

 from which gushes a great volume of water, that is called 

 Elisha's Fountain. The great depression, wherein lies the 

 Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, is nearly a quarter of a 

 mile below the level of the sea and three-quarters of a mile 

 lower than Jerusalem. This has a marked influence on the 

 temperature of the valley in March, and unquestionably the 

 same thing is true in July and August, but in March the ad- 

 vantage lies in favor of the valley. Of this advantage the 

 birds had not been slow to avail themselves, as their twit- 

 terings on all sides abundantly proved. Deciduous trees were 

 not in full-leaf, yet the foliage was well advanced, sufficiently 

 so to conceal the birds from view as we were jerked rapidly 

 along. In fact, on no other part of the whole trip was the 

 string jerked so frequently and with such violence. In an 

 afternoon devoted to a trip to the banks of the Jordan and 

 the shores of the Dead Sea there was a stop of about twenty 

 minutes at the former place, and half that time at the latter: 

 merely time enough to dip one's fingers in the waters of the 

 Sea and to pick up a few bean-shaped pebbles from its shore. 

 How two men of our party secured their plunge into the 



