284 Rev. H. JB. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 
the description, redescribed his bird anew as P. cruentatus. I 
can scarcely believe that Ehrenberg and Antinori, each finding 
only a single species, should have met with one distinct from 
the bird which we obtained in all the olive-groves, woodlands, 
and forests of the country. The unfailing distinction between 
the Palestine bird and P. major is, that while the latter has the 
nape of the neck black, with a narrow white stripe behind it, 
the white in P. syriacus is continuous from the eye and ear- 
coverts round the crimson occiput and to the nape of the neck 
inclusive, and is only interrupted at the centre of the occiput by 
the black plumage of the back; at the same time the black 
interrupted collar below is much narrower than in the European 
bird. The Woodpecker is a permanent resident, found alike in 
the oliveyards near Hebron and in the pine-forests of Gilead, 
but especially abundant about Carmel and the oak-glades of 
Bashan. It never descends to the Ghor or Jordan depression. 
The Wryneck, Jynx torquilla , L., is a scarce bird, so far as our 
observation goes, and a migrant, returning from the south about 
the middle of April. It is difficult to account for the absence 
of any representative of P. minor , or of the genus Gecinus , so 
abundantly represented from Britain to Japan. They may pos¬ 
sibly linger in very small numbers, but have probably been ex¬ 
terminated from the scarcity of timber. 
To turn now to the Passeres. 
Of Wrens we found but one, and that only in the north, 
where it seemed very scarce, Troglodytes parvulus, Koch. It is 
slightly lighter in plumage than my British specimens, as also 
are my Algerian skins. 
The Tree-creeper, Certhia familiaris, L., which ought to exist, 
did not occur to us; but we frequently met with the beautiful 
Wall-creeper, Tichodroma muraria (L.), a permanent inhabi¬ 
tant of the rocky defiles in the northern and central parts. We 
never saw it in the south, where probably the cliffs are too 
parched and dry to supply it with its insect food. I know few 
ornithological sights more interesting than to watch this beau¬ 
tiful little creature as it flits along the face of a long line of cliff, 
with a crab-like sidling motion, rapidly expanding and closing its 
wings in a succession of jerks, and showing its brilliant crim- 
