Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 61 
want of suitable localities ; for the Lebanon valleys, the northern 
portions of Galilee, and, above all, the vast glades of Gilead 
would seem admirably adapted for its resort. Yet the Arabs 
knew nothing of such a bird, nor had they any name for it; and 
our muleteer, Khadour, a very intelligent and observant man, 
who had spent years in travelling over all parts of Syria, assured 
me, when I showed him a Cyprus skin, that he had never seen 
such a bird in the country. Nor did I obtain any further re¬ 
cognition from Arab fowlers who likewise saw the skin. Thus 
the southern limit of the range of the Magpie seems very sharply 
defined. I am not aware that it has ever been found in Egypt. 
The congener in Algeria and Tunis, P. mauritanica (Malh.), 
never penetrates beyond the wooded range of the Atlas. The 
Indian P. bottanensis (Deless.) never comes south of the Ilima- 
layahs. The Chinese P. sericea (Gould), barely distinguishable 
from the European species, descends, however, almost to the 
tropics; while the American Pica hudsonica (Bp.) appears to 
be almost confined to the Arctic regions and high central plains 
of Western America, and the P. nuttalli (Aud.) to the coast¬ 
line of California. Thus everywhere there is a striking con¬ 
trast between the restricted limits of the genus Pica and the 
wide range of the Corvince , which cannot be accounted for by 
any difference we yet know between the habits and conditions 
of life of the two genera. 
During the month of November, beyond the occasional 
glimpse of a distant Raven, the only bird of the family we met 
with in the Lebanon was the Black-headed Jay, Garrulus mela- 
nocephalus (Bonelli). There it was very scarce and cautious. 
On the coast it never occurred till we reached the wooded dis¬ 
trict of Mount Carmel; and in the scattered oak-groves on the 
road to Nazareth we obtained our first specimen. We had 
already secured a specimen in Asia Minor, near Smyrna, and 
found the species in the two countries decidedly to differ in 
several particulars. In the Asia Minor bird the black of the 
crest descends, as in the Algerian G. cervicalis (Bp.), close to 
the coverts of the nostrils. In all the Palestine specimens, and 
I speak from a very large series, there is a broad frontal line, or 
white forehead, before the commencement of the black crest, 
