99 



Breeding Range: The British Isles and Continental Europe, except 

 the north of Scandinavia and Russia, and in the south, Portugal, the greater 

 part of Spain, southern Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean Islands. [Also 

 inhabits western Asia.] 



In the British Isles it is a common resident in most parts of the British 

 mainland and islands, but has not yet been found breeding in the Shetlands. ^^^^^: 



In the Iberian peninsula it is found north of the Cantabrian Mts. and con- 

 in Navarre, but further south is only a winter straggler. In Italy it is ^"^'^'^^^ 

 common in the northern provinces, but becomes scarcer towards the middle 

 of the peninsula and is absent from the south. It is also unknown in 

 Greece, but is very plentiful in Bulgaria, and occurs on the Montenegrin 

 mountains, although absent from the coast. In Russia some birds appear 

 to belong to an imperfectly known geographical race, E. citrinella erythro- 

 genys Brehm, which probably also inhabits W. Siberia, Turkestan, Persia 

 and Asia Minor. North of lat. 67° 40' in Finland and 65 J ° in E. Russia 

 it is not found, and in Scandinavia its range does not extend beyond lat. 

 70° N., but over the rest of Europe it is fairly common and general. 



Frequently built on the ground at the foot of a hedge, bush, or steep Nest. 

 bank, and generally partly hidden by growing grass. Sometimes however 

 it is placed in a bush at some little height, and an instance is on record 

 of a nest 7 ft. from the ground in a broom-plant, while others have been 

 found 10 — 12 ft. high in the side of a haystack [Zool. 1903, p. 465) and 

 twice on fruit trees trained against a wall 5 and 7 ft. high, in one case 

 on an old Blackbird's nest. Another extraordinary site is within a hollow 

 turnip! {Field, 7. VI. 02); while in Germany a nest has been found under 

 a turntable at a station. Occasionally also a hen has been found incubating 

 eggs on the bare ground, probably when the nest has been destroyed while 

 she was laying. 



Nests vary in size according to position, those built in bushes being 

 naturally more bulky than those placed in a hollow on a bank side. The 

 materials consist chiefly of stalks, grasses, etc., with a little moss and a 

 smooth lining of horsehair, while occasionally a few leaves are used in the 

 foundation. 



3 — 5 in number, but clutches of 6 have been occasionally recorded Eggs. 

 from the Continent. In some districts the set almost invariably consists 

 of 3, and in Ireland Ellison has sometimes found 2 only, while 5 are scarce. 

 In Germany Rey states that the first clutch consists generally of 5 eggs, 

 the second of 4, and the third of 3 or 4. In colour and markings they 

 show great variety. Some eggs are almost pure white, without any markings; 

 but the most usual ground colour is a pale purplish white, with fine under- 

 lying spots or streaks of pale violet, and pencilled with interlacing hair 

 lines or streaks of dark purplish brown, and a few spots of the same 



7* 



