293 



Hypolais oliretorum (Str.). Dresser, B. of Europe, II, p. 527 and Man. 

 Pal. Birds, p. 109. Hippolais olivetorum (Str.). Hartert, Yog. Pal. Fauna, 

 p. 572. 



Breeding Range: The Balkan peninsula, locally (Dalmatia, Greece 

 and the Archipelago). [Also Asia Minor and N. Syria.] 



Although not universally distributed this species is common in many ^°°" 

 parts of Greece, especially on the low ground and foot hills, where olive Europe. 

 groves prevail. Kriiper also records it from Naxos and Erhard from the 

 Cyclades. It is however very scarce in Macedonia and has only once 

 been obtained in Bulgaria, but its distribution in the Balkan peninsula 

 is probably still imperfectly known, for it is now known to be locally 

 common in the Gulf of Cattaro, in S. Dalmatia (Kollibay), and also 

 breeds in Montenegro (v. Fiihrer). [In Asia Tristram found it nesting 

 in N. Palestine and Kriiper describes it as tolerably common near Smyrna. 

 Tristram's breeding record from Algeria is erroneous.] 



It is an extraordinarily wary and shy species, spending its time in ^*"'- 

 the tops of the olive trees, where it would be very difficult to detect 

 if it were not for its loud and rich but rapid and monotonous song, which 

 is frequently uttered while in motion. The nest is neatly built among 

 the smaller twigs of an olive or other tree, sometimes as low as 1 ft. 

 from the ground, but usually from 2 to 9 or 10 ft. high. It is built of 

 grasses, roots, gnaphalium stalks, mixed with down and covered exter- 

 nally with cobwebs, lined with yellow down and a few roots or hairs. 

 Diameter of cup, 3i — 4 in., depth li — 2 in. Lindermayer states that it 

 is built in about 12 days: in Greece it is generally found in olives, but 

 also in pomegranates, almonds, laurels, figs, mulberries etc., and in Dal- 

 matia commonly in oak forest. Here Grossmann noticed in a summer 

 when the foliage was devoured by caterpillars, that it bred in large 

 colonies of some hundred pairs, a pair nesting in almost every tree. 



Sometimes 3 but more usually 4. The ground is a much paler Eggs. 

 and more delicate rose than that of the Icterine's egg, which otherwise 

 it closely resembles, although that of the Olive-tree Warbler is larger 

 and heavier. The rounded black spots are sparingly distributed and 

 rarely show any tendency to a zone. The surface is without gloss. 



It is a late arrival in its summer haunts, seldom laying before the breeding 



Season. 



last days of May and early June in Greece, although clutches have been 

 taken at the end of the third week of May. Dalmatian clutches are 

 dated June 11 and 15, and in Asia Minor Selous took clutches at the 

 end of May. 



Average of 100 eggs (42 by the writer, 29 by Reiser and 29 by Rey), Me»»ure- 

 20.12 X 14.77. Max. 22.5 x 14.7 and 20.5 X 15.7, Min. 17 x 13.5 mm. 

 Rey gives the average weight as 127 mg. and Reiser (29 eggs) as 117 mg. 



