The Oologists' Record, June 1, 1923. 37 



NOTES ON EGGS FROM WESTERN SPAIN. 



By The Editor. 



A very interesting little consignment of eggs has reached us 

 from the western part of the province of Estremadura, in Spain — 

 a district that has, we think, been very little worked over by 

 English Oologists. Our correspondent was not quite early enough 

 in the field, but this is a thing that will, we hope, be remedied 

 another year. 



The district in question is not very mountainous, and the rarer 

 Accipitres would appear to be lacking, although expeditions can 

 be made to greater distances another year. One very interesting 

 little Falcon seems to thrive in the populated areas, for our corre- 

 spondent has sent two very pretty sets of Cerchneis cenchris, the 

 Lesser Kestrel, found beneath the tiles of a house ! Sets of Common 

 Buzzard and Kite do not present any unusual features, but there 

 is a set of two of a species of Eagle which we have not yet identified. 



The Woodchat Shrike, of which a large series has come to 

 hand, carries there the Portuguese name of Picanso. Some of the 

 sets are very handsome and with more distinct markings than those 

 from further north. A set of nine eggs of the Hoopoe was found, 

 very advanced as to incubation, as early as May 13th, but fresh 

 eggs of the Raven were found later. The common form of Tree 

 Warbler there is the Melodious, Hypolais polyglotta, of which some 

 pretty sets have come through. A fine set of four Orphean Warblers 

 has a Cuckoo's egg with it of a type very closely approximating that 

 of the foster-parents. Of course, the Orphean Warbler is known 

 to be a frequent victim of the Cuckoo in Spain. 



There are several sets of the Spanish Sparrow, Gorrion Molinero 

 of the natives, including one in which each egg is heavily capped. 

 One of several sets of Corn Bunting is a type rather out of the 

 ordinary ; it could be best described as a very large edition of the 

 eggs of the Ortolan Bunting, with the size of the spots, as well as 

 that of the eggs, very much larger. There is one set of the Rock 

 Thrush, one set of Crested Lark, one of Short-toed Lark, two sets 

 of Nightingale, one set of Russet Wheatear, one set of Serin worthy 

 of note as being almost the minimum size for this species on record, 

 and a set of four Common Swift. We still hope to receive som.e 

 Bustards, and, in time, to get to know quite a lot about the breeding 

 species of the district. Having spent a long time acquiring a 



