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Bird Observations in Lebanon and Syria 
By EvizABETH J. BAROODY 
THERE WERE many new sights to claim our attention when, on the afternoon 
of April 27, 1939, the Italian boat, Marco Polo, left us at Beirut. Amid so 
much that was strange it was indeed a pleasure to recognize swallows, many 
of them, skimming through the residential streets, often very near the pave- 
ment. Cars and pedestrians frightened them not at all. They resembled our 
barn swallows but since they build under the eaves of houses they are 
there called house swallows. As the summer advanced the swallows dis- 
appeared from the streets of the coastal city, but when we went to the 
mountain village of Zahley we found that the swallows had gone to the 
mountains for the summer. Hundreds of them swept through the air high 
above the village. 
Two and a half months in Lebanon and Syria afforded us opportunities 
to see several of our old feathered friends and to make some new ones. 
There were song thrushes that resembled our wood thrush; horned larks 
slightly paler in color than those found here. There were also crested larks. 
The kingfisher of Syria closely resembles our belted kingfisher. The bird 
called the Syrian woodpecker, with his rosy head, rosy under-tail coverts, 
black and white barred back and wings, and habit of feeding from the tree 
bark was easily recognized. 
Looking into the garden from the window of an elegant old palace at 
Beta Din where the Emir lived in the days of the Turkish rule we saw what 
was evidently a jay. He was a gorgeous fellow with grayish tan body, 
black crown, white cheeks, blue, white, and black wings and brownish black 
tail. We found that he is called the black-headed jay. 
Other birds evidently related to species familiar in our own land were 
the golden oriole, a bird with a yellow body and black wings and tail; the 
white collared flycatcher having black wings, tail, and head, gray underparts 
and wide white wing bars and collar; a wood chat shrike easily recognizable 
as a shrike; a quail very like our own; a meadow pipit with streaked brown 
back and yellow brown-spotted breast; wild doves closely resembling our 
mourning dove; a burrowing owl; a streaked wren warbler resembling our 
house wren; and a black crow. We saw again the lapwing which we had 
first seen some years ago in Scotland. Of course the ubiquitous starlings 
and English sparrows were not lacking. 
More difficulty was encountered in identifying birds that were complete 
strangers. Neither books nor pictures were available and our only help was 
the really good collection of mounted specimens in the museum of the 
American University of Beirut. We took notes in the field and as soon as 
possible visited the museum. In the museum we took notes to be used in 
the field. 
One of our most enjoyable trips out from Beirut and one rich in 
opportunities to see birds was a trip northward to Lattaquieh, thence north 
eastward to Aleppo, southward through Hama and Homs, and from Homs 
eastward across the Syrian desert to the ruined city of Palmyra. Between 
Lattaquieh and Aleppo we saw the sea eagle, known to cross-word puzzle 
solvers as the ern. A little later two large storks flew over. We were to see 
