Dis- 



313 



Sylvia ruepelli Temm. Dresser, B. of Europe, II, p. 417 and Man. Pal. 

 Birds, p. 86. S. mppeli Temm. Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 592. 



Breeding Range: Greece. [Also Asia Minor, Crete, Palestine 

 and probably Cyprus.] 



In Greece this species has been recorded from several localities in 



tribution, 



the Peloponesus (Messenia, Lakonia and Arcadia), and also in Acarnania 

 and Attica. It is however not common, but is no doubt often overlooked. 

 [In Asia Minor it is almost the commonest warbler near Smyrna, and 

 Danford says it is not uncommon on the hillsides near Anascha in the 

 Taurus. Tristram describes it as a scarce resident in Palestine. It is 

 a common summer visitor to Crete and breeds there, and probably also 

 nests in Cyprus.] 



In the breeding haunts of this bird, the females are rarely seen ^®^*- 

 and are very skulking in their habits. The nest is placed in a bush of 

 some sort, and is not particularly hard to find. It is somewhat substantial 

 for a Warbler's nest, and is built of bents and grasses, lined with horse- 

 hair. 



Usually 4 or 5, pale greenish or greyish in ground colour, thickly ^^^^• 

 mottled all over with small yellowish or olive brown spots and under- 

 ling grey mottlings, sometimes so as to almost hide the ground colour 

 A tendency to a cap or zone at the big end is sometimes apparent. In 

 general appearance these eggs approach most closely to those of the 

 Spectacled Warbler. 



Kriiper states that on one occasion he found a full clutch near breeding 



-^ , . Season. 



Smyrna on April 7, and that the usual season begins in mid April, but 

 this may be a misprint for May, as the bird does not reach its nesting 

 quarters till very late in March, and Lynes found it beginning to build 

 in Crete about April 25, while Selous found many nests in Asia Minor 

 between May 14 and 28. 



Average of 28 eggs (25 by writer and 3 by Reiser), 17.92x14, Measure- 



ments. 



Max. 19.3x14.6 and 19x14.8, Min. 17x13.3 and 17.5x13.2. Average 

 weight of 2 eggs, 85 mg. (Jourdain): of 3 eggs, 108 mg. (Reiser). 



150. Sardinian Warbler, Sylvia melanocephala (Gm.) 



Plate 22, fig. 19—23 (Provence). 



Eggs: Thienemann, Fortpfl. Taf. XX, fig. 7, a, b. Baedeker, 

 Tab. 51, fig. 4. Taczanowski, Tab. LIII, fig. 1. Dresser, pi. — , fig. 

 25—29. 



Foreign Names: Fraince Fauvette melanogephale. Italy: Occhiocotto. 



