476 
Mr. Douglas Carruthers on Birds 
The region that I traversed (see Map, Plate IX.) comprised 
the low, hot depression that holds the Dead Sea and sinks to 
1300 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean, the extremely 
rocky precipitous declivities of the Moab Plateau, which form 
the eastern wall of the depression, the rolling uplands of Moab, 
which afford a certain amount of pasture, and, lastly, the 
inner deserts (the stony Hammad and the sandy Nafud) 
which stretch into the very heart of Arabia. 
The vegetation of these different zones varies a great deal. 
In the Dead Sea Basin it is of almost tropical luxuriance; 
in many places palms, oleanders, and acacias form an 
impenetrable jungle. In the Ghor es Sarfeh, at the south 
end of the Dead Sea, there is an especially dense jungle 
of thorn-scrub, tamarisk, and a tall grass (Saccharum 
agyptiacum). The wadis that drain into the Dead Sea are 
also full of growth, but the hills are generally very 
barren. 
The Moab Plateau affords fairly good pasturage for flocks 
and herds, and is inhabited by a considerable variety of 
birds and mammals, while the inner deserts are much more 
sterile and almost uninhabited. The north-western portion 
of Arabia is composed of limestone steppes, sand-dunes, 
barren rocky hills, and a few isolated oases. 
The altitudes of these different localities vary from 
— 1292 ft. (below the level of the ocean) in the Dead Sea 
Basin to 4-3000 ft. on the Moab Plateau. The greater 
part of N.W. Arabia has an altitude of over 2000 ft. 
The great trench which holds the Jordan River and the 
Dead Sea, being one of the most remarkable physical features 
in the world, contains an interesting fauna. 
The Moab Sparrow (Passer moabiticus ), for instance, is 
not only confined to this limited region, but is only found 
in three little isolated areas of jungle at the most southern 
and lowest portion of the Depression. This is also the only 
locality in the Palsearctic Region where a species of the 
genus Cinnyris occurs (C. osea), which shews the affinities 
of the fauna of Palestine to that of the Ethiopian Region. 
This bird, however, seems to have extended its range out of 
