Rev. H. 13. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine, 281 
accounts for this in Western Palestine; but it seems strange that 
the thickly-wooded and extensive ranges of Gilead and Bashan, 
with their varying forest of pine, oak, olive, and jujube, and every 
variety of temperature, should not, so far as we know, afford a 
home to more than a single species of Woodpecker. Further 
investigation, doubtless, may reveal additional species; but unless 
they be very scarce and local, I think they could hardly have 
escaped us. 
The most interesting of the scansorial birds is the Great 
Spotted Cuckoo, Oxylophus glandarius (L.), now, by the observa¬ 
tions of Messrs. Allen and Cochrane in Egypt and of Lord Lilford 
in Spain, very well known to English ornithologists, but whose 
habits were almost a mystery to the naturalists of this country 
when Mr. Salvin and I published our observations in f The Ibis 3 
for 1859. In Palestine the Spotted Cuckoo is by no means 
rare in spring and summer, and has a wide range, visiting alike 
the forests of Gilead and the oliveyards of the western country ; 
but we never saw it in the Ghor, and probably it does not fre¬ 
quent those districts, where neither the Jay nor the Hooded 
Crow are found. It is a migrant, returning early in March. 
We first met with it in the plain of Gennesareth, on March 4th, 
on which day I shot three specimens, one male and two females. 
They were then evidently on passage, and we never after¬ 
wards found them excepting in wood on the higher ground. 
They were exceedingly noisy, keeping up a continuous chatter 
in the Zizyphus- bushes, and occasionally darting off in pursuit 
of a locust, with which they would return and devour it leisurely 
on their perch. A few remained there for a couple of days; but 
on our two subsequent visits we never observed them on the 
plains, although the Common Cuckoo was frequently both heard 
and seen. In the open oak-glades of Bashan, at the end of 
March, we found Oxylophus glandarius generally distributed, 
though never in great numbers. The small birds were appa¬ 
rently suspicious of its habits; for the Spanish Sparrows would 
pursue it in flocks with a deafening din, till even a Cuckoo’s 
life ought to have been a burden to him. Whether the Spar¬ 
rows had discovered that he had the appearance of a Raptor 
without his powers, and therefore enjoyed the luxury of bully- 
