183 



met with as high as 7500 ft., and in European Turkey is not uncommon, 

 while in Greece it is resident botli in the oak and pine forests north 

 of the Gulf of Lepanto. In Italy and Sicily it is common and sedentary, 

 but is not found on Malta, Sardinia, or Corsica, nor has it been recorded 

 from the Balearic Isles. In Switzerland it is met with not only on the 

 lower slopes, but even in the Haute Engadine, and inhabits the woods 

 of the Low Countries and France. In the chesnut and beech forests of 

 the Pyrenees is also abundant, and either this, or possibly another local 

 race, is found in the principal mountain ranges of the Iberian peninsula 

 (Cantabrian Mts., S. de Guadarrama, Gredos and Estrella, S. Nevada 

 etc.) [Specimens were obtained by Olcese from the hills near Tangier 

 about 1883, and Loche recorded it from Algeria, but recent observers 

 have failed to meet with it.] 



In nesting habits this form does not differ from the British race. Nost. 

 Old holes of the Great Black Woodpecker are not infrequently occupied 

 in Central Europe, and iley once met with a hole excavated by the 

 bird itself in a very rotten willow trunk. The usual height is between 

 9 and 18 ft., but exceptionally nests have been found only 11 ft. above 

 the ground, and 75 ft. high. Notes by Bau in Z. f. Ool, XI, p. 106 (1901). 



Generally 6 to 8 in number, less commonly 5 or 9, and indistinguish- Eggs. 

 able from those of S. europaea hritannica. A nest with 12 eggs was 

 found by A. Hintz in 1855. 



Most authorities are agreed that only one brood is reared in the Breeding 

 year, though Girtanner thinks that two broods are sometimes brought soason. 

 off in Switzerland. The breeding season is rather variable. Probably 

 Bau is correct in assuming that the older birds re-occupy the nests of 

 the previous year and lay first, while the younger hens, which have to 

 find and adapt to their needs other sites, breed two or three weeks 

 later. In AVallachia full clutches may be found in the first week of 

 April, while in Germany the usual time is from mid April to late in 

 May in the north, and from April 10 to mid May in the south. In Jut- 

 land the first eggs are laid in the last week of April. 



A. Bau gives the average of 86 eggs as 19.7 X 14.4 mm.. Max. Measure- 

 21.8 >c; 15.1, Min. 17.6x13.5 mm. Roy gives very similar figures: 

 average of 42 eggs, 19.9 X 14.6 mm.. Max. 22.25 X 14.5, and 21.25 X 

 15.25; Min. 17.5x14.8. Average weight 135 mg. (Bau); 132 mg. 

 (Rey). 



c. Caucasian Nuthatch, S. europaea caucasiea Rehnw. 



S. europaea caucasiea Rchnw. Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 333. 



Breeding Range: The Caucasus. 



Little is known of the distribution or habits of this short-billed 



