179 



and it is also undoubtedly present in the S. de Gredos. It is also said 

 to be resident in the Estrella range (Portugal), and is found generally 

 but not commonly along the Pyrenean Mts., and its outlying spurs, as 

 well as in the Cantabrian Mts. (Picos de Europa etc.). It occurs sparingly 

 in the Vosges, locally in the Jura, and also in the whole of the Alpine 

 system, from the Basses Alpes and the mountains of Savoie (and possibly 

 also in the Cevennes) in the west, through Switzerland and N. Italy to 

 the Tyrol, Carinthia, Styria etc. In Hungary and Galicia it is known 

 to breed in the Tatra and in other parts of the Carpathian Mts. It is 

 not common in the Apennines, and is only found in the higher parts of 

 the range. In the Balkan peninsula it is found in most of the higher 

 mountain systems, from the Transylvanian Alps, Servia, and Bosnia south- 

 wards as far as the Parnassus, where one of Kriiper's collectors found 

 a nest with young. It is however much less numerous in Greece than 

 in the mountains of Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Bosnia. It has been 

 recorded from Sardinia, and may breed there, as well as in Sicily and 

 on Elba. In the Caucasus it is resident up to about 8000 ft. [In Asia 

 it is found from Palestine and Asia Minor eastward through Persia, 

 Afghanistan, Turkestan etc., to the Himalayas, Tibet and Mongolia. There 

 is no satisfactory evidence of its occurrence in the Atlas, but it is said 

 to have been once met with in Abyssinia.] 



Some interesting notes on the breeding habits of this bird are given Nejt. 

 by Girtanner in the Verhandl. der St. Oall naturiv. Oesells. for 1864 

 and 1868, Avith a coloured plate of the young bird in the nest*, and 

 in the Orn. Monatsschr. 1882, p. 274. It is generally placed in a cleft 

 or recess in some precipice or gorge, and is composed chiefly of moss 

 and bits of wool, interwoven with roots, a few grass stalks, and down; 

 while the inner lining is a felted mass of wool and hair of various animals, 

 with occasionally a feather or two or a little fine moss interwoven. The 

 outside diameter is about 6 or 7 in. , while the cup measures about 

 3 or ^k in. in diameter and li — l? in. in depth. While incubating the 

 hen is a very close sitter, being fed by her mate, and only leaving the 

 nest once in the day; during the later stages she cannot be dislodged 

 even when the entrance to the nest is struck by a stone (F. C. Keller). 



Usually 4, but sometimes 5 in. number. They are fine grained. Eggs, 

 slightly pointed ovate in shape, and are sparsely marked with fine, sharply 

 defined spots and specks of dark reddish or almost blackish brown, 

 chiefly at the big end, on a white ground. The surface of the e^g is 

 dull, or only slightly glossy. Some eggs are almost devoid of markings. 



* See also a very valuable article by F. C. Keller in the Zeitschr. fur die ges. 

 Ornithologie, 1886, p. 329. 



12* 



