151 



Breeding Range: The higher mountain ranges of central and 

 southern Europe. [Also in Asia Minor.] 



The evidence of the breeding of this species in the Iberian peninsula Con- 

 is not altogether satisfactory. Irby recorded it from the Sierra del Nino, ^J)^^ ^ 

 near Tarifa at 2500 ft., but only speaks of it as a winter visitor to the 

 coast in the Ornith. of the Straits of Gibraltar (2nd. Ed.). Arevalo quotes 

 Seoane as recording it from the Sierra Nevada, and also mentions San Ildefonso, 

 but gives no details. In the Pyrenees however it is very common on the 

 bare uplands above the forest belt to above the snow line, both on the 

 French and Spanish sides, and Eagle Clarke met with it in Andorra up to 

 8200 ft. In France it is found in the Vosges Mts., and is also generally 

 distributed throughout the whole Alpine region up to about 7500 ft., from 

 the Basses Alpes through Switzerland to the Tyrol. In Germany it is found 

 in the Schwarzwald, Thiiringer Wald, Rauhe Alp, Bavarian Alps, and 

 especially on the Sudeten (Riesengebirge) on the Bohemian border. It is 

 found also in many other districts of Austro-Hungary, the Carpathian range, 

 the Transylvanian Mts., Com. Banat in Hungary, Bosnia, Herzegovina, the 

 Semmering Alps, Styria, Carinthia, etc. In Italy it is said to be found 

 in the Lombardy highlands, the Apennines and even Calabria. In the Balkan 

 peninsula it is known to inhabit the grassy uplands of Montenegro, Albania 

 and the Rhodope Dagh, but is only a winter visitor to Greece. It has been 

 obtained in Sardinia in spring, and probably breeds there. In the Caucasus, 

 and perhaps also in the Urals, it is replaced by A. s. Uakistoni. 



Usually cunningly concealed in a hollow under a grass tussock, at Nest. 

 other times under shelter of a Rhododendron bush, or even in a crevice 

 of the rocks, or among stones. It is built of coarse grasses and stalks of 

 Alpine plants, often with roots attached, and sometimes also moss, lined 

 with finer bents and a few hairs, and occasionally a feather or bit of wool. 

 It is a difficult nest to find, and the birds are generally wary, but where 

 they are plentiful the hen may occasionally be flushed from the eggs. 



Usually 5, but sometimes 4 or 6.* They do not vary much, and the Eggs. 

 bright red variety has apparently not occurred. The greyish white ground 

 colour is almost hidden by innumerable ashy, brownish olive, or purplish 

 brown spots. Some eggs show a tendency to a cap or zone of dark spots 

 and there is occasionally a dark hair streak at the big end. 



In the Alps the first eggs are laid at the end of April or early in Breeding 

 May, but as they may occasionally be found in June and even early in ^^^on. 

 July it is probable that a second brood is sometimes reared. In Carinthia 

 Keller took a full clutch as early as April 27, but most eggs are laid in 



* Naumann speaks of clutches of 7 and 3 as rare, but I can find no con- 

 firmation of the statement. 



