"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٥‎٧] (٧٣٨/١١٩)

MINERALS, FLORA, AND FAUNA
would find little or nothing to support life, subsisting on a
host of aromatic and bitter plants which no other quadruped
will eat. The sheep is found mostly in the lower hills and
the plains; in Lebanon and other elevated regions the fat
tailed variety is most common and, here, its food consists
largely of the leaves of the mulberry tree. The buffalo lives
chiefly in the river valleys and the marshy tracts of the
coastal and other plains.
Of birds, water-fowl in great numbers and variety, including
wild duck, storks, and flamingoes, frequent the marshes and
lakes throughout the central depression and .the swamps and
marshes of the Maritime plain ; pelicans in particular are
exceedingly numerous in the marshes of Huleh. Among the
birds of prey are the eagle, kite, and hawk, and the crow is
common. Quails, partridges, and wild doves are extremely
numerous in certain localities ; the first named are caught
in nets in great numbers, or shot, along the coast. Many of
the smaller kinds of birds coitimon to Europe are found
everywhere, but singing-birds are few both in number and
kind. The Lake of Antioch and the plains near the mouth
of the Jordan are said to be especially rich in bird life.
Reptiles —lizards, snakes (some of large size and venomous),
scorpions, and centipedes of large size—are plentiful. Leeches
are numerous in some of the wells and pools and are a source
of danger to cattle at watering places.
Of insects, the most harmful are the mosquitoes ; they are
a pestilence in the marshes of the depression, the Jordan
valley, the Dead Sea basin and the Maritime plain.
Fish are abundant in almost all the lakes and water-courses
of Syria ; even the small streams contain several varieties of
small fry. The most important fishing grounds are those of
Lake Tiberias and the upper reaches of the Jordan (see
further, p. 549 f.). The R. Orontes, and the lakes in the
northern section of the central depression are particularly rich
in fish (see further, p. 397 ff.). Fish do not live in the Dead Sea
on account of the unusual degree to which the waters are
impregnated with mineral salts.