200 EGGS OF BEITISII BIRDS. 



underlying spots are grey, and, though somewhat obscured by 

 the overlying layer of ground-colour, they appear distinct and 

 bold enough when carefully examined In the greater number 

 of eggs the overlying spots are either absent altogether or are so 

 small and pale as to be observed with difficulty ; but in some 

 cases, though rarely, they are tolerably well defined and are 

 brown, and much more numerous than the underlying spots 

 (which they almost conceal), and are, like them, principally dis- 

 tributed at the larger end of the egg. They vary in length from 

 09 to 0"8 inch, and in breadth from 065 to 0'6 inch. 



THE OKPHEAN WAKBLEK. 

 (Sylvia orpheus.) 



Plate 52, Figs. 14, 15. 



The Orphean Warbler can only be looked upon as a very rare 

 and accidental straggler to our islands, if indeed the evidence 

 of its occurrence at all can be relied upon. On the Continent the 

 range of this bird is very restricted. It appears to be a summer 

 migrant to all the countries lying in the basin of the Mediterranean 

 and the Black Sea, and eastward as far as Persia and Turkestan. 



The nest is a tolerably substantial one, and deep, composed of 

 dry grass and leafy stalks of plants. Inside it is built of finer 

 grasses, and lined sparingly with thistle-down or the flower of 

 the cotton-grass. Little or no attempt seems to be made to 

 conceal it. It is generally placed on the branch of a tree not 

 more than a few feet from the ground, and sometimes near the 

 top of a bush. 



Four or five is the usual number of eggs. The ground-colour 

 is white, sometimes faintly tinted with gre} r and sometimes tinted 

 with brown. The spots are almost always much more developed 

 at the large end than at the small one, and are sometimes very 

 small, but generally vary in size from dust-shot to No. 4 shot, and 

 in rare instances are even larger, two or three being confluent and 

 forming irregular blotches. The colour of the overlying spots 

 varies from olive-brown to nearly black, whilst the underlying 

 spots naturally take the tint of the ground-colour of the egg, and 

 vary from pale grey to buff. They vary in length from 0'85 to 

 0'75 inch, and in breadth from 0"G3 to 0'50 inch. 



