Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 85 
tinued, regardless of the weather, to hover over the breakers, 
ever and anon dashing’ down into the surf, and apparently diving 
to the bottom for their prey. Their flight and actions reminded 
us very much of the Kestrel. After rising with a somewhat jerk¬ 
ing flight, they would poise themselves for several minutes with 
a gentle quiver of the wing, and then suddenly drop perpendicu¬ 
larly, beak foremost, for a header, or else glide swiftly onwards 
to take up another aerial post of observation. They are at all 
times of the year gregarious in small bands. A few bred near 
the Jordan, in the banks of the Wady Kelt; but the great breed¬ 
ing-place which we discovered was on the plain of Gennesaret, 
in the banks of the Ain Mudawarah. Here there was a colony 
of about thirty pairs, only a small proportion, however, of the 
birds of this species which feed on the teeming myriads of fishes 
in the hallowed lake. They selected a different part of the bank, 
and built in a different position from Halcyon smyrnensis. Shortly 
before its entrance into the lake, the Mudawarah forms a hollow 
secluded pool, with steep banks of mud about twenty feet high 
above the water, which may have a depth of ten or twelve feet. The 
sides of this little amphitheatre were perforated all round by the 
holes of the Great Kingfisher, but all of them close to the water 
edge, about four inches above it. Here on the 28th of April Mr. 
Bartlett took two nests, of six and four eggs respectively. I re¬ 
visited the locality on the 21st and 22nd of May and found great 
numbers of young birds fledged and able to fish for themselves, 
while some nests contained from four to six young; but I still se¬ 
cured five nests with fresh eggs in each. The only way of securing 
them was to strip and swim to the bank, while an Arab threw 
down a rope from above, which I fastened round my waist while 
he held the other end ; and thus suspended in the pleasant 
tepid bath, I dug away with the mattock let down to me till the 
eggs were reached. 
The passages were about three feet and a quarter in length, and 
the chamber at the end was simply scooped at one side of the 
passage, not turned at a sharp angle, nor double, like that of 
the Bee-eater. In one instance I had dug long and laboriously, 
when out dashed a great rat instead of a Kingfisher, leaving 
her six naked young to their fate. In no instance were there 
