288 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 
were none of A. arvensis. We were unable to find their summer 
residence, and did not revisit the south at the breeding-season. 
Mr. Swinhoe's Chinese specimens are precisely similar; and I 
possess a specimen also identical, which I shot more than twenty 
years ago near Geneva. 
Of the Crested Larks, Galerita, Palestine affords four acknow¬ 
ledged species. G. cristata (L.) is the commonest bird of the 
country, in the open grounds of the central, northern, and coast- 
regions, remaining all the year, and breeding as late as June, 
though most of the nests were taken about the end of April. 
G. abyssinica , Bp., is the form found in the south and the desert. 
I include it without recognizing its specific value, as Bonaparte 
simply gives for his diagnosis “ Similis prsecedenti at distincta 
colore deserti.” In a large series I find it utterly impossible to 
draw a line. The G. cristata of Galilee differs quite as much 
from G. cristata of northern Prance as it does from G. abyssinica, 
being intermediate in coloration. The next species, G. isabellina , 
Bp., I willingly admit, from the differences in size, beak, and 
crest. The specimens we obtained in the Ghor es Safieh, at the 
south end of the Dead Sea, in no way differ from those of the 
central Sahara and Nubia. To these are to be added my new 
species, G. brachyura (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 435), at once distinguish¬ 
able by its comparative length of wing and shortness of tail; 
it is in fact the representative species of the Woodlark among 
the Galeritce. It appears very local in its distribution, and we 
only found two specimens in the central Jordan valley. 
Of the beautiful Horned Larks, Palestine affords the finest 
species, Otocorys penicillata, Gould, strictly confined to the edge 
of the snow-line on the very summits of Hermon and Lebanon, 
where it consorts with Montifringilla nivalis and Pyrrhocorax 
alpinus. It was a beautiful sight to watch these Larks scattered 
all over the dome of Hermon, warbling their rich yet subdued 
notes, with erected crest, on the desolate tops of the rocks which 
strew the summit. In their action they are very unlike most 
other Larks, and do not attempt to soar. Most of the nests 
were hatched when we arrived at their breeding-place; and we 
obtained only one sitting of eggs, very like those of 0. alpestris, 
but larger, of a greenish-white, thickly covered with grey-green 
