187 

 Probably from mid April to the end of the month is the best time breeding 



Season. 



for eggs in Asia Minor, but full clutches have been found in the first 



week in April on lower ground, and higher in the mountains eggs have 



been taken occasionally late in May. 



Average size of 63 eggs (58 measured by the writer and 5 by Rey), Measure- 

 ments. 

 17.14x13.08 mm.. Max. 18.3x13 and 17.1x14, Min. 16x12.7 and 



16.3x12.6 mm. According to Rey the average weight is 100 mg. 



88. Rock Nuthatch, Sitta neumayer Michah. 



Plate 23, fig. 18—22 (Smyrna, T. Kruper). 



Eggs: Thienemann, Fortpfl. Tab. XVII, fig. 15, a — b. Baedeker, 

 Tab. 43, fig. 8. Dresser, pi. — fig. 25—27. 



Foreign Names: Croatia: Kravarica. Germany: Felsen-Kleiher . 

 Greece: TsopandJcos. Montenegro: Londar. 



Sitta neumayeri Michsih.. Dresser, Birds of Europe, III, p. 183; id. 

 Man. Pal. Birds, p. 191. Sitta neumayer neumayer Michah. Hartert, 

 Vog. Pal. Pauna, p. 338. 



Breeding Range: The Balkan Peninsula, from Croatia, Dalmatia 

 and the Balkans southward to Greece. [Also Asia Minor, probably as 

 far as the Caucasus.] 



In Dalmatia this bird haunts the rocky districts at a low elevation, con- 

 and has been also recorded from Croatia. In Herzegovina it is a well ^^pe 

 known resident in the Karst region, and in Montenegro it is common 

 along the Adriatic coast and also in the subalpine region. Von Fiihrer 

 found it ranging as high as 5100 ft. It appears to be unknown in the 

 great plains of the Danube valley, but is recorded by Reiser among the 

 Balkans at a height of 6000 ft. on the extreme southern boundary of 

 Bulgaria. It is found in Albania and Macedonia, but Kruper describes 

 it as less common on Olympus than in Greece. It is said to breed on 

 Corfu and is locally common in Greece, especially in Acarnania, but is 

 not found in the Cyclades. Radde describes a Rock Nuthatch as common 

 in the Little Caucasus, up to about 6000 ft., but rare on the S. side 

 of the Great Caucasus. [In Asia Minor it is one of the commonest 

 birds: but in Syria and Palestine it is replaced by a doubtfully distinct 

 pale race, S. neumayer syriaca Temm. (Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 338). 

 Other forms occur in Persia and Turkestan.] 



"Wherever found this Nuthatch is always a noticeable bird, its Nest. 

 rapidly repeated single loud call note attracting attention at once. It 

 is generally met with on rocks or boulder- strewn hillsides, and is very 

 rarely seen on trees. Its remarkable nest is found in caves or on the 

 face of precipitous overhanging rocks, and is as a rule not difficult to 



