"In the roof of this was a small hole, athwart which lay a stick. After many efforts, we got a string across it, and so hauled up a rope, by which, finding the stick strong enough, we climbed, and with a short exercise of the chimney-sweeper's art, we found ourselves in a third tier of cells, similar to the lower ones, and covered with the undisturbed dust of ages. Behind the chapel was a dark cave, with an entrance eighteen inches high. Having lighted our lantern, we crept in on our faces, and found the place full of human bones and skulls; with dust several inches deep. We were in an ancient burying-place of the Anchorites, or hermits of the country, whose custom it was to retire to such desert and solitary places. "Their bones lay in undisturbed order, probably as the corpses had been stretched after death. "After capturing two or three long-tailed bats, of a species new to us, which were the only living occupants of the cave, we crept out, with a feeling of religious awe, from this strange, sepulchral cavern." Besides the species of bats that have been described, it is probable that representatives of several more families of bats inhabit Palestine. [Illustration: bat] [Illustration: LEOPARDS.] [Illustration: BIRDS.] [Illustration: bird and nest] [Illustration: ossifrage] THE LÄMMERGEIER, OR OSSIFRAGE OF SCRIPTURE. Difficulty of identifying the various birds mentioned in Scripture--The vultures of Palestine--The Lämmergeier, or Ossifrage of Scripture--Appearance of the Lämmergeier--Its flight and mode of feeding--Nest of the Lämmergeier. It has already been mentioned that even the best Biblical scholars have found very great difficulties in identifying several of the animals which are named in Scripture. This difficulty is greatly increased when we come to the BIRDS, and in many instances it is absolutely impossible to identify the Hebrew word with any precise species. In all probability, however, the nomenclature of the birds is a very loose one, several species being classed under the same title. [Illustration: THE LÄMMERGEIER.] Keeping this difficulty in mind, I shall mention all the species which are likely to have been classed under a single title, giving a general description of the whole, and a detailed account of the particular species which seems to answer most closely to the Hebrew word. * * * * *