tinental 

 Europe. 



298 



Breeding Range: Central Europe, S. of the Baltic and Gulf of 

 Finland and B. of the Rhine, but absent from the S. of the Italian and 

 Balkan Pensinsulas. [In W. Asia it is replaced by S. nisoria merz- 

 hacheri Schal.] 



Cod- In Scandinavia it is found in S. Sweden in Skane, Blekinge, S. 



Kalmar Ian, Oland, and Gotland, and perhaps also in Asker in Norway. 

 In Russia it breeds on Drumso near Helsingfors in Finland and its 

 northern limit extends to the Governments of S. Petersburg, Jaroslaw 

 and Kazan, but only in small numbers, though it becomes more numerous 

 in middle Russia and ranges S. to Bessarabia, Poltawa, Charkow, the 

 Crimea, and in smaller numbers even to Astrakhan and the N. Caucasus. 

 In Germany its distribution is irregular and it is absent from some 

 districts, but is found locally E. of the Rhine valley, and is not scarce in 

 Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony, Anhalt and Pomerania, and is es- 

 pecially common in Prussia, but local in Silesia, and fairly common in 

 the South, though always local. It is tolerably common in Austro-Hungary, 

 but has not been proved to breed in Switzerland, and nests in the N. 

 and N. E. provinces of Italy, and in the Balkan peninsula in Montenegro, 

 Dalmatia, Bulgaria and the Dobrudscha, where it is locally common. 

 In France it is of very rare occurrence, but breeds in small numbers in 

 Holstein and Denmark. [The range of the Asiatic form, S. n. merzbacheri 

 Schal., may extend from Asia minor to Persia and Turkestan, but needs 

 defining.] 

 Nest As a rule this species haunts the outskirts of woods, commons, and 



rough ground overgrown with bushes, such as blackthorn, rose, bramble etc. 

 The nest is generally well hidden, from 1 ft. 6 in. to 6 ft. from the 

 ground, but has been found exceptionally as high as 25 ft. Two or 

 three pairs may often be found nesting not far from one another. The 

 rather flat nest is somewhat roughly built externally, but is a typical 

 Warbler's, built of grasses and roots, with some cobwebs or down inter- 

 woven, and lined with horsehair and sometimes fine roots. Bau notes 

 that it frequently breeds close to the Red backed Shrike, and that the 

 alarm notes of the two birds are very similar. 

 Eggs. Usually 5, but occasionally 6 or only 4, which latter number is 



often found in second layings. The ground colour is pale yellowish, 

 milky white or greyish, closely speckled with pale leaden or brownish 

 grey. In some eggs the markings are very faint and barely visible, while 

 in others they are darker and form a zone. Hartert found one set near 

 Pillau with large red brown spots and streaks. Generally they show a fair 

 amount of gloss. 

 Breeding In Swcdcu from the last week of May to mid June: in Germany 



Season. 



