The Ooiogists' Record^ March i, 1921. at 



interwoven, eis in the case of most other birds, but just put together, 

 hence it is quite impossible to remove a nest " in tolo," as, once hfted 

 out of the original site, it straightway falls to pieces. 



Materials used for the nest are principally dead grasses and bent 

 straws and rootlets. The egg cup is usually of softer and finer 

 materials of a similar nature and the nest foundation often consists 

 of a thick layer of dead leaves. I must add that in 90 per cent, of 

 the nests I have seen, there were pieces of snake skin amongst the 

 lining at the bottom of the nest. 



Nests varied much in size from large untidy structures, conspicu- 

 ously placed in hedgerows, to neat cups with but little foundation 

 and not much bigger than a small nest of the Spotted Flycatcher. 

 In all situations nests varied from practically the ground level to a 

 height of nearly 6 feet. I have seen old nests in holes in the sides 

 of banks and ditches alongside hedges. 



In 1918 I found four nests in the Judean Hills at the end of 

 May, all in low scrubby l^ushes, thorns or brambles. Two were 

 1,300 feet above sea level and two at 2,500 feet. The internal 

 measurements of the cup of one of the. nests found in the hills was 

 i\ inches by 2 inches by \\ inches, and I would. hke to say that all 

 four nests were so well concealed in thick cover that if the sitting 

 bird had not flown away when the cover was shaken in all probability 

 I would never have spotted the nests, which were built into lumps 

 of flood debris and collections of old leaves, etc. 



Later on, in the first fortnight of July, several nests were found 

 in the coastal plain near Jaffa. The majority of the eggs were in 

 an advanced state of incubation though a few fresh ones were taken 

 at the beginning of the month. 



Nests were chiefly in orange trees in the groves, a few in mimosa 

 hedges — some others low in thick cover near the River Auja, and 

 one nest curiously situated in the middle of the thick overhanging 

 foUage of an olive tree, and placed nearly 7 feet above the ground. 



The internal measurement of the cups of two of these nests were 

 respectively : 2| inches by 2\ inches by i inch and 2\ inches by 

 2\ inches by i| inch. 



No measurements have yet been taken of an}' of my 1920 eggs, 



