262 



eastward to Archangel, and the Kazan Government. It is also distributed 

 over middle Europe, but towards the basin of the Mediterranean appears 

 to be replaced by the Southern race, although the boundaries of the 

 two forms are not yet defined. Apparently however the Northern form 

 does not extend further S. than the middle of France and the Alpine 

 and Transsylvanian chains. 



Nest. Placed generally on a hillside partly covered with bracken and 



wooded thinly with deciduous or mixed timber. It is built on the ground 

 and is not easy to see, as the materials used, dead grasses, bracken and 

 perhaps a little moss, are difficult to distinguish from the surroundings. 

 It is of course domed and the opening is somewhat flattened, while the 

 interior is neatly lined with fine grasses, and occasionally, but not always 

 a few horsehairs. Feathers are never used. Exceptionally Aplin has 

 recorded a nest in a diagonal cleft across the face of a large boulder: 

 another, without a dome, was built under shelter of a tree root, while 

 in a third case a pair are said to have bred some distance down an 

 rabbit hole! Rey states that in the German forests most nests face east, 

 but this does not apply to the broken and hilly country where this bird 

 often breeds with us. The song of the male is not much guide to the 

 position of the nest, but the hen can often be put off the eggs by 

 beating, and is generally feeding between 6 and 7 am. Her alarm note, 

 a high pitched, 'Tee, tee', is characteristic, and she can easily be watched 

 on again to the eggs. 



Eggs. Generally 6 or 7 in number, sometimes only 5, while 8 have oc- 



casionally been found. They are thickly spotted and finely speckled with 

 dark red brown, with a slight purplish tinge and sometimes ashy violet 

 shell markings can also be distinguished. In some sets a good deal of 

 the white ground is visible, but generally the markings are evenly dis- 

 tributed, frequently tending to form a zone or confluent blotches at the 

 big end. They can only be confused with those of Bonelli's Warbler, 

 which are however slightly smaller on the average. 



Breeding The time appears to vary little and the last ten days of May and 



Season, ^ihc beginning of June appear to be the best time for full clutches both 



in the British Isles and Mid-Europe, but a few pairs may be found with 



eggs by the middle of May. Only one brood is reared in the season. 



Incubation lasts about 13 days. 



Measure- Avcragc of 100 cggs (67 by Rey and 33 by the writer), 15. 87x12. 39mm., 



ments. ^g^^ ^8.3 X 13 and 17.5 X 13.5, Min. 14.4 X 12 and 15.2 X 11.4. 



A dwarf egg measures only 12.4 X 9.7 (Coll. R. H. Read). Average 



weight of 42 eggs, 72 mg. (Rey). R. H. Read gives the average of 



17 unblown eggs as 1.227 g. 



