96 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



gonis, Brehm), nests in Spain (A. E. Brehm t) : (4.) H. elaica 

 {Sylvia elaica, Lind.; S. amhigua, Schlegel; S. prey Hi, Frauenf.), 

 nests in Greece (Lindermayer) : (5.) H. pallida {S. pallida, 

 Ehrenb.), nests in Nubia (Heuglin) : 6. H. polyglotta (-S'. 

 polyglotta, Vieill.), nidification unknown. 



The notes on H. pallida (of which species little was befoi'e 

 known) are somewhat as follows : — 



" The I. R. Austrian Consul at Chartoum in the Sudan 

 (Hofrath Dr. Th. von Heuglin) found this bird, which is also an 

 inhabitant of Syria, all the year through in N.E. Africa. The 

 skins collected by him in Egypt^ as well as his observations on 

 its habits, agree fully with Ehrenbcrg's. A variety with a 

 stronger beak was found further southwards, in Nubia.'^ 



" He, as well as Blasius, believes in the possibility of the 

 identity of this species with the Grecian H. elaica ; but I do 

 not hesitate to consider them as different for the ])resent, 

 because the cpiestion is not yet settled, and, moreover, two Egyp- 

 tian nests, each with four eggs (for which, as well as for the 

 observations here given, 1 have to thank Dr. Heviglin's kindness), 

 are somewhat different from those of the latter species, whether 

 specifically or climatically need not at present be settled." 



" This Warbler, \a Inch, not quite properly (in the same way as 

 H. olivetorum by Keyserling and Blasius), and chiefly because of 

 its habits, was formerly united to the Reed-Warblers, delights 

 mostly in water-ditches and reedy thickets. It nests in the 

 hedges of gardens or in the thick Mimosa-bush {Mimosa nilo- 

 tica), if Arundo donax, its favourite resort, is not far off. 



"The nests are placed from two to fifteen feet high. Both 

 mine are from Cairo itself — from the Especchia Place." 



After giving an accurate description of the two nests, which 

 were composed of strips of bass and dried stalks mixed with 

 woollen threads and horsehair, and lined with fine tendrils of 

 plants, with some Mimosa-leaves fixed on the outside, the author 

 says of the eggs, of which there were four in each nest, " Their 

 ground-colour is dark violet-grey, somctinies greenish-white ; 

 some are sparingly but uniforndy spotted with minute freckles 



• Confer Dr. A. E. Breluu's " Cursory observations on the Birds of 

 Spain," in the 'Allgeni. deutscho naturhist. Zoitiuig,' Bd. iii. (1857) p- -^^7 ■ 



