52 The Oologists' Record; September i, 1922. 



The nests are just a pad of dead grass, bents and rootlets, thickly 

 lined with horsehair or other soft materials. 



In colour the eggs are pale purplish white, stained purplish, and 

 with sepia surface pencilhngs and shell spots of purple. Marked 

 all over but more profusely at the larger end. The eggs are rather 

 squat in shape, 



Eniberiza hortnlana. Ortolan Bunting. 



Passes through in great numbers on passage during the spring 

 and autumn, but does not remain to breed. 



Melanocorypha himacidata gaza. Palestine Calandra Lark. 



The Larks form an interesting group, providing as they do 

 several breeding species, but the same old story of lack of time has 

 prevented me from getting together a nice collection of their eggs. 

 On arrival, in Palestine in May, 1918, 1 was sent up to the front line 

 to make a reconnaissance of conditions. On the way, motoring 

 through the plain of Sharon, I was at once struck by the numerous 

 Calandra Larks, which were evidently nesting ; but I had no oppor- 

 tunity of looking for eggs, and my regiment was forthwith moved 

 into the hills. Li the summer of 1920 I did have a few opportunities 

 of becoming acquainted with their breeding habits, and found these 

 birds very plentiful in an area a few miles east and south-east of 

 Jaffa. I am not certain whether they are double-brooded in the 

 season or not, but rather think they are. Although I rode all over 

 their breeding area more than once, I only managed to find one nest, 

 which contained four fresh eggs. Li colour they seemed a dirty 

 greenish, heavily spotted and speckled with olive-brown, greenish 

 brown, and greenish olive surface spots,- and with slate-grey and 

 purplish-grey shell markings. They were broad for their length. 

 The nest requires no description, being of the usual type of Lark's 

 nest, and placed under the shelter of a tussock of grass. The normal 

 clutch is four or five eggs. I ought to have been able to secure 

 many nests from the local inhabitants when reaping the earty crops, 

 but they were far too apathetic to help me in any way 



Calandrella brachydactyla longipennis. Short-toed Lark. 



The Short-toed Lark of Palestine is a resident, but I foimd it 

 none too plentiful in the same suitable localities where the Calandra 

 Larks were breeding. I only once came across a nest, and that 



