300 



high in bushes. Rey foiind a nest in tall Erica near Lisbon and Koenig 

 found one in Juniijerns oxyderus in Algeria. It is a typical Warbler's 

 nest , fairly neat and compact , built of stalks of grasses and weeds, 

 interspersed with bits of down, and lined with fine roots or grasses and 

 sometimes fibre or a little hair. Diameter of cup 21 — 2i in., depth 

 II— If in. 

 Egcs. Usually 4 or 5, sometimes only 3. Noble records a nest with 7 



fresh eggs, which must have been the produce of two hens. They 

 vary in shape but are typically of a rounded oval, with a very pale 

 greenish white ground Avhen fresh, which however fades in time to al- 

 most pure white, and are marked with very dark umber brown spots, 

 streaks, and an occasional scrawl, generally softened at the edges like 

 brand marks, and also marked with paler umber blotches and small spots 

 and ashy shell markings. Most of the spots are concentrated towards the 

 big end. Gates describes the eggs as very glossy, but this does not agree 

 with my experience of Spanish eggs and probably refers only to those of 

 the next race. 



Breeding? In S. Spain cggs may be found from the beginning of May onward, 



but the best time is about the middle of the month. Rey gives the 

 breeding season in S. Portugal as extending from the end of April to 

 the end of June. S. of the Atlas range in Tunisia the breeding season 

 begins earlier in April. Though eggs may be obtained till early in June 

 it seems doubtful whether two broods are reared in Europe, as stated by 

 Arrigoni. 



^TZT Average of 100 eggs (81 by the writer from Spain and 19 by Er- 



langer from Tunisia) 19.01x14.41, Max. 21.5x14.5 and 19x15.5; Min. 

 17.5x13.6 and 20.3x13.2. An abnormally large egg (not a Cuckoo's) 

 measures 22.3x17.3. Average weight of 9 Spanish eggs, 118 mg. 

 Koenig however gives the average of 11 eggs from Algeria as 127 mg., 

 which seems unusually heavy. Rey has a dwarf egg either of this or 

 the next form, 11x9 mm. 



b. Eastern Orphean Warbler, S. hortensis crassirostris €retzschm. 



Plate 27, fig. 24, 26, 27 (Greece). 

 Eggs: Thienemann, Fortpfl. Taf. XX, fig. 1, a — c. Hewitson, 

 III Ed., pi. XXXV, fig. 3. Baedeker, Tab. 51, fig. 10. Seebohm Br. 

 Birds, pi. 10; id. col. Fig. pi. 52 [Possibly some of the above figures 

 may apply to the W. race, as localities are not given]. Reiser, Grn. 

 Bale, III, Taf. Ill, fig. 7—9. Dresser, pi. — , fig. 40,41 (? 41,42). 

 Sylvia jerdoni (Blyth). Dresser, Man. Pal. Birds, p. 86. *S'. hortensis 

 crassirostris Greta. Hartert, Vog Pal. Fauna, p. 581. 



