Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 285 
son shoulders at each movement. It generally works up the 
gorge at nearly the same elevation, with its breast towards the 
face of the rock, and moves close to its surface in a perpendicular 
position, rapidly darting forth its bill and picking out minute in¬ 
sects as it passes along. In a few minutes it would return down 
the valley again, quartering the rock in a line parallel to its for¬ 
mer course. In the Wady Hamam, near Gennesareth, we twice 
observed chinks in the precipice where the Wall-creeper was 
breeding, but they were hopelessly inaccessible. 
In the same localities we found Sitta syriaca, scarce and local, 
but always attracting attention by its restlessness and loud note. 
In the grand gorge of the Leontes it is particularly abundant. 
Mr. Sclater has rightly corrected me (Ibis, 1865, p. 309) for }/ 
the statement that the bird we procured south of Hermon was 
Sitta krueperi; but now possessing two of Dr. Krupees type-spe¬ 
cimens, I feel confident that I frequently saw this little Nut¬ 
hatch in the Leontes gorge. I shot them, but was unable to 
recover the specimens in that tremendous depth. But I saw 
them closely enough to identify the chestnut collar; and Mr. 
Cochrane took a nest in this place which he kindly shared with 
me, the eggs of which are only half the size of those of our 
Common Nuthatch, and doubtless belong to this species. I 
must now add to the list in the Zoological ‘Proceedings ’ Sitta /sifr 
ccesia , Meyer, as pointed out by Mr. Sclater, which Mr. Bartlett 
first shot in a wooded glen under Hermon, and I afterwards in 
the Lebanon. The under surface is of a deeper rufous than in 
ordinary European specimens. 
Of the Titmice only one, Parus major, L., is common in Pales¬ 
tine ; it is found in all the woods and oliveyards east and west, 
but never in the Jordan valley; and its coloration is very bright. 
It is rather an early breeder, but we found one nest ready to 
hatch in an olive-tree near Jerusalem on April 26th. The only 
other species we saw were in the Lebanon -—Parus luguhris, Natt., 
and Parus ater, L., which is very abundant at the cedar-groves 
but not in the lower ranges of the mountains. 
However scantily some of the above groups are represented 
in the Palestine fauna, the Alaudince are most abundant and 
conspicuous everywhere. Of the eight subgenera which are 
