1€|2 



that of Parus major, boldly spotted Avith spots and blotches of dark and 

 light red brown and a few violet shell marks. Sometimes the markings 

 are evenly distributed, but they are generally thicker towards the big end, 

 and sometimes form a zone of confluent blotches. Occasionally a set is 

 met with in which the spots are replaced by fine speckles, while Norgate 

 took a set of 7 white eggs in Norfolk, in which only two showed faint 

 traces of markings. 



Breeding Early clutchcs may be taken occasionally in the last ten days of 



April, but the more usual time is in the first two or three weeks of May, 

 May 1 — 14 being perhaps the best time. The Nuthatch is apparently 

 a life paired bird, and in some cases at any rate, the eggs of a second 

 brood are laid about the end of June. "While incubating the hen sits 

 closely, and by hissing and the use of her powerful beak seeks to deter 

 intruders. The period of incubation is probably about 13 — 14 days, and 

 a nest under observation by P. H. Bahr was completed in the short 

 space of 4 days. 



Measure- Eggs of thc British race are quite indistinguishable from those of 



ments. ^^ ^^ caesia, but are as a rule smaller than those of S. e. europaea. 



Average of 100 English eggs measured by the writer, 19.2x14.32 mm.. 

 Max. 21.5X14 and 20x16, Min. 16.5x13.5 and 19.1x13.2 mm. 

 Average weight of 7 normal eggs, 130 mg. 12 full eggs average 2.308 g. 

 (R. H. Read). 



b. Southern Nuthatch, S. europaea caesia Wolf. 



Plate 22, fig. 11—15 (Halle a S., Germany). 



Eggs: Thienemann, Fortpfl. Tab. XVII, fig. 16, a — b. Baedeker, 

 Tab. 43, fig. 6. Dresser, pi. — fig. 17. 



Foreign Names: Denmark: Noddehahker . France: lorcliepot. 

 Germany: Kleiher, SpecMmeise. Holland: BoomMever. Hungary: Csuszka. 

 Italy: Picchio muratore. Portugal: Trepadeira. Spain: Trepatroncos. 

 Sitta caesia Wolf. Dresser, tt. c. (partim). S. europaea caesia Wolf. 

 Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 331. 

 Con- This race is found in the wooded districts of E. Jutland and also 



on Funen, where according to Winge S. europaea europaea also occurs. 

 It is also the representative race throughout Germany, with the exception 

 of E. Prussia, and is most numerous in the deciduous woods of the low 

 ground. Probably the Carpathians form its E. limit in Austro-Hungary, 

 and in the forests of Salzburg, Carinthia, the Danube valley and Tran- 

 sylvania it is not uncommon. In the Vorarlberg Bau met with it breeding 

 up to 3000 ft. In the Balkan Peninsula it occurs in the Dobrudscha, 

 and according to Dresser is very plentiful in the oak woods of Wallachia 

 and Servia. In Montenegro it haunts the mountain forests and has been 



tinental 

 Europe. 



