tinental 

 Europe. 



108 



It was built in a thick bush, about a foot from the ground, and was neatly 

 and compactly built of moss. 

 Eggs. The eggs were very pale green, 'with small distinct rounded surface 



spots and minute dots of purplish black and fainter purplish grey markings, 

 the latter being chiefly confined to the larger end'. 

 Measure- Average size 24 X 16.5 mm. 



ments. 



53. Cretzschmar's Buiitiiii?, Emberiza caesia Cretz- 



Plate 13, fig. 21 (Parnassus, 4. VI. 76); 22 (Attica, 4. V. 80). 



Eggs: Reiser, Orn. Bale. Ill, Taf. Ill, fig. 1, 2. 



Foreign Names: France: Bruant cendrillard. Germany: Bostammer, 

 Grauer Ortolan. Greece: Bldchos. Italy: Ortolano grigio. 



Emheriza caesia Cretz. Dresser, Birds of Europe, IV, p. 213; id. 

 Man. Pal. Birds, p. 358; Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 182. 



Breeding Range: The Balkan peninsula. [Also Asia Minor to the 

 Caucasus.] 

 Con- In Greece this Bunting is one of the most conspicuous birds, haunting 



the bare rocky hillsides in company with Chats and Larks, and only 

 occasionally perching for an instant on the scattered clumps of thyme and 

 low scrub which grow here and there. It also nests on the mountains of 

 Corfu and in the Cyclades, and is ubiquitous on Cyprus, where Guillemard 

 met Avith it even on the summit of Troodos. In Macedonia it is much 

 scarcer, but is not uncommon on the hillsides in Asia Minor and Syria 

 while a few pairs are said to breed in Lower Egypt. 

 Nest. Generally built on the ground, sometimes among rocks, and at other 



times under cover of a tuft of grass, or in a low bush. It is neatly and 

 compactly made of dead grasses, lined with fibres and horsehair (Tristram). 

 Eggs. 4 or 5 as a rule, but clutches of 6 are occasionally found in Greece. 



They somewhat resemble those of the previous species, but the ground 

 colour is darker and the markings often more numerous. The ground varies 

 from greyish or yellowdsh white to russet or reddish grey, with almost 

 black spots and streaks (sometimes showing a purple penumbra) and violet 

 grey underlying spots and 'worm lines'. The shell is somewhat glossy. 

 Breeding Kriiper found eggs in Greece from the end of April or the beginning 



of May onward, most eggs being taken between May 4 — 16; but as fresh 

 eggs as well as fledged young were found on June 16, it is probable that 

 two broods are reared. In Syria according to Tristram these birds were 

 beginning to sit by April 19, but two nests with eggs were taken by 

 F. C. Selous near Smyrna on May 20 and 24. 

 Measure- Average of 60 eggs (28 by Rey, 17 by Reiser and 15 by the writer) 



19.55X15.17 mm.. Max. 21.6x16.2 and 19.2X16.7 mm., Min. 17.8X14.3 



Season. 



ments 



