ORTOLAN. 61 



is very plentiful in Abyssinia, where it may possibly also 

 stay to breed. We have no record of its occurrence on the 

 intermediate part of Africa till we reach Algeria, where 

 according to Loche it inhabits the Sahel ; but other ex- 

 plorers of that country have not encountered it. Tyrwhitt 

 Drake found it in summer at Tangiers, and Favier, as 

 quoted by Col. Irby, states that it is very abundant there, but 

 the last never met with it very near Gibraltar, though it is 

 plentiful enough |ibout Seville and in other parts of Spain, 

 In Portugal it seems to have been recognized but once — 

 near Coimbra. Throughout the rest of the European con- 

 tinent, always excepting the western and northern portions 

 of France, and the eastern and northern portions of 

 Russia, the Ortolan occurs in general terms pretty univer- 

 sally, but as before stated the universality of its distribution 

 is so much interrupted as to render it sporadic at least in 

 the breeding-season, for during its migrations it is fre- 

 quently found in places to which it is at other times a 

 stranger. 



Hoy, in a communication to this work, says of the habits 

 of this species in Flanders that " it makes its appearance 

 at the beginning of May, and almost immediately pairs 

 and commences building; its monotonous chirping notes 

 are heard the whole day long. These birds prefer light 

 sandy soils, and build invariably on the ground in fields 

 of corn — at least I never met with a nest in any other 

 situation : those I found were placed in a slight hollow, 

 were something similar to the nest of the Skylark, but 

 rather more compact ; the interior lined with fine grass 

 and a few hairs ; the eggs are from four to six in number." 

 They ordinarily measure from "85 to -72 by from '66 to '58, 

 but occasionally not more than '64 by '55 in., and have a 

 purplish- or reddish-white ground, spotted and blotched, but 

 rarely veined, with very dark liver-brown — almost black, and 

 sometimes with patches of dull lavender and brownish-red. 

 In Central Germany the Ortolan is said to haunt the beds of 

 willows and alders that grow on the edges of low-lying 

 ground, but not to frequent marshy spots themselves. It 



