132 



Con- In the Iberian peninsula it is local, but not uncommon in certain 



tinenta ^jg{^j,jg|;g ^f ^}^q southern provinces, and also on the tableland of central 



Europe. _ J^ ' _ 



Spain, 2000 ft. above the sea; breeding generally where the undergrowth 

 is not too thick. It is also found in small numbers in Portugal, but in 

 France is fairly numerous in wooded districts, being sedendary in the S. 

 and S. W. and migratory in the N. In some parts of Brabant it is not 

 uncommon, but in Denmark and N. Germany is scarce and local, though rather 

 more numerous in the S. of the country, and is generally distributed and 

 common in Switzerland. Colonies exist in Livonia and Esthonia, and it is 

 said to breed in one locality in Finland (Abo Lan), as well as in various 

 districts of central and southern Russia, from Kiew and Kharkow in Little 

 Russia eastward to Saratow and Kazan, and is a scarce resident in the 

 Caucasus. In Scandinavia it is confined to the southern part of the peninsula: 

 not uncommon in S. and S. E. Norway, but scarce as a breeding species in 

 Sweden. In Italy it is resident in the hilly districts, especially in the S., 

 and is also found in Sicily, while in Sardinia and Corsica it is common. The 

 geographical races of this species have not yet been thoroughly investigated, 

 but probably the birds inhabiting the Balkan peninsula Avill have to be 

 separated as L. arhorea flavescens Ehmcke, and possibly also the Corsican- 

 Sardinian birds also. In Greece it appears to inhabit the higher mountain 

 ranges only, but further N. it is found commonly on hillsides and high-lying 

 plains near the edge of forest in Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Bosnia, etc., 

 and is said to be plentiful on Crete and near Constantinople. [It is also 

 resident in the mountain ranges of the Barbary states, and a pale coloured 

 race, L. arho7'ea pallida Sar. occurs in Transcaspia, E. Persia, etc.] 



Nest. Generally sheltered by some low bush, dead bracken, heath, or grass 



tussock, and placed on the ground on a warm, sunny hillside in mountainous 

 districts, choosing especially those which are partly covered with dead 

 bracken and heath. In open, flat country it seems to prefer the neigh- 

 bourhood of pine woods, and in Spain often nests in open glades of cork 

 oak and ilex forest. It is rather neatly built of coarse bents and moss, 

 lined with finer grasses, and sometimes a few horsehairs. M. A. MatheAv 

 records a nest built in a strawberry bed in N. Devon, and N. Wood found 

 one on the stump of an old oak overgrown with grass in Derbyshire. 



Eggs. Almost invariably 4 or 5 in number, although according to Fatio, 



6 are known to occur, but rarely. No instance of a clutch of 6 eggs has 

 occurred within my own experience. The eggs are somewhat glossy, pale 

 greenish white or dirty white in ground colour, generally somewhat thickly 

 speckled with spots, and sometimes a few blotches, of hair brown and 

 underlying violet grey markings. Not infrequently the markings tend to 

 form a distinct zone at the big end, and occasionally they are decidedly 

 reddish in tint, almost approaching the finely spotted eggs of H. rustica 



