Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 95 



October, and Dr. Carvalho tells me it is met with there all the 

 year round, and nests in the bushes. It sings throughout 

 the year, and it is somewhat startling in winter to hear a loud 

 and abrupt burst of song resembling that of the Nightingale 

 from a thick bush close to one. 



44. CisTicoLA cuRsiTANS (Fraukl.). " Boita,^' Aveiro ; 

 " Fuinha,'' " Fuim,'' Estoi, Algarve ; " Cochicha," Ovar ; 

 '' Chinchafolle,'' Vagos; " Bentpinha,'' Santa Clara a Velha, 

 Alemtejo. 



Abundant in rushes and long rank grass on edges of 

 marshes or marshy streams near the seaside. Its note is a 

 very distinct, shrill , monosyllabic tzit-tzit-tzit, and may be 

 heard when the bird is so far off as to be scarcely visible. It 

 is fond of flying about in circles with festoon curves, uttering 

 its note at each ascending curve. 



At Ovar and Estarreja it is very abundant, and at Matto- 

 sinhos it is common and nests on the salt-pans and banks of 

 the creek. It generally arrives at the Foz do Douro (mouth 

 of the Douro) about the 20th of March, and disappears at 

 the end of August or middle of September, a stray bird or 

 two sometimes remaining till the end of October. I have 

 never seen it near Oporto in winter. Dr. Carvalho informs 

 me that at Coimbra it is found all the year round, moving in 

 winter to the higher ground of the rye-fields. Near Abrantes 

 I have met with it in winter as well as summer. 



It is both an early and late nester : on the 8th April, 1880, 

 I saw a nest with young birds, and on the 20th July, 1879, 

 I found one still building, and two days afterwards I met 

 with another nest with newly hatched young and some eggs. 

 On the 17th July, 1881, a nest which I found contained three 

 fresh eggs. 



The nest, a most remarkable structure, cocoon-shaped, and 

 looking as though made of floss silk, is generally attached to 

 stalks or leaves of long rank grass about a foot or two off 

 the ground; the opening is at the top, narrow and well- 

 concealed. In fact one might at first sight mistake this nest 

 for a mass of spider-web and pass it by. As remarked by 



