Ornithology of Asia Minor. 11 



S. krueperi began nesting in the lower fir-woods of Anascha 

 as early as the 6th March ; and eggs were laid by the first 

 week of April; such birds, however, as had chosen their 

 breeding-quarters in the higher and more exposed regions of 

 the Ala dagh, had not even finished building a fortnight 

 later ^, The nests were very easy to find, and so numerous 

 that a couple of days^ search on the 17tli and 18th of April 

 resulted in the discovery of about twenty, and that without 

 any great extent of ground being gone over or a single nest 

 having been previously marked down. Most of these nests 

 contained eggs, about half of which were, more or less, incu- 

 bated. The usual complement seems to be five, as stated by 

 Kriipert; but others contained six; and in one instance a 

 setting of seven was found. The eggs resemble those of the 

 Common Nuthatch, but are more spotted, the number, size, 

 and distribution of the sj)ots being subject to considerable 

 variation. The nests were usually placed very nearly or just 

 behind the bark of a rotten fir-stump, and could easily be ex- 

 posed by breaking away the bark Avith the hand. They were 

 not, however, built between the bark and the stem, but in a 

 chamber excavated in the latter. A small round entrance- 

 hole is bored ; and the height above the gi'ound varies from 

 one to a dozen feet. Occasionally deserted Woodpeckers^ 

 holes are used, which, judging from their size, must originally 

 have belonged to Picus medius. In no instance was the slightest 

 attempt made to fill up the unnecessarily large entrance. For 

 the groundwork of the nests filaments of juniper-bark were 

 always used ; indeed the stringy ragged covering of that tree 

 is a favoiu'ite building-material Avitli many birds of this dis- 

 trict. If, however, there was a unanimity of opinion about 

 the foundation and exterior, the greatest diversity of taste 

 prevailed in the furnishing of the interior. The linings of 

 four nests, taken within a radius of a hundred yards, were, 



■ * It is ratlier singular to find this species nesting fully six weeks earlier 

 than it does in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and that, too, at a greater 

 elevation. (See Kriiper, Mommsen's ' Griechische Jahreszeiten/ Heft iii. 

 p. 213, 1875, " The laying-time begins in the middle of May.") 

 t L. c. p. 213. 



