72 Mr. H.B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine . 
diagram. Its depth of wing, not only long but very broad, 
till its secondaries appeared to reach almost to the end of 
its tail, and its short broad tail 
extending to twice the width 
of the other, made it appear 
to cover double the surface its companions did, and we at once 
named it the Fantail Raven. Rut its note was the richest, most 
powerful, and most musical that ever Raven uttered. No croak, but 
a long-sustained cheery cry which decidedly belied its relationship. 
Mr. Shepherd was ready to forego the ascent of Sebbeli for the 
chance of the prize; and though certainly we would not for all 
the Ravens of the East have missed the wondrous ruins of Masada 
and the superb panorama from its summit, it was with a feeling 
of envy that on our return we found the coveted treasure had at 
lengthrewarded his patience; andwe handledthe miniature Raven, 
hoping we had made an ornithological discovery. Everything 
about him bespeaks the Raven, and not the Crow, the short coni¬ 
cal massive bill, the long wings, and the uniform rich violet re¬ 
flexion of his plumage surpassing those of every other species. 
It was long before we met with him again. During our 
sojourn near Jebel Usdum we constantly saw both the Common 
and the Brown-necked Ravens, which perched continually on 
the salt-cliffs, though what, save a love of desolation, could have 
brought them there it was hard to guess, but no other species 
could we discover. More than one fell a victim to the rifle- 
practice of my companions ; for they afforded a tempting mark 
as they sat on the glittering salt-peaks. At length we crossed 
to the east side, not, however, to meet, as we had hoped, a kindly 
welcome from the Ghawarineh inhabitants of the rich oasis of 
Safieh, below Kerak, but to find the smoking embers of a plun¬ 
dered village, strewn with the corpses of the combatants in a recent 
battle. Thus prematurely our hopes of the richest ornithological 
harvest in the country were foiled. A few varieties we secured 
during the afternoon; but, encumbered with human prisoners, 
for our men had captured more than a dozen, and knowing that 
the enemy was lurking in the woods, of which the whole dis¬ 
trict is full, the keenest ornithologist might be excused if he re¬ 
served his second barrel for a bullet, and declined to wander far 
