314 



Portugal; Tutinegra dos vaUados. Russia: Slavka chermogolovaja. Sar- 

 dinia: Cahu de moru. Spain: Palmcrilla. 



Sylvia melanocephala Gm. Dresser, B. of Europe, II, p. 401 and Man! 

 Pal. Birds, p. 83. S. melanocephala melanorophala (Gm.). Hartert, Yog. 

 Pal. Fauna, p. 593. 



Breeding Range: S. Europe, in the countries bordering on, and 

 the islands in the Mediterranean. [Also in the Canaries, N. W. Africa 

 and Syria, where it is represented by local races.] 



^°°- In the Iberian peninsula this species is chiefly confined to the pro- 



Eur^pl vinces bordering on the S. and E. coasts of Spain. Here it is plentiful 

 among the brush covered foothills and low ground, but does not penetrate 

 far into the central plateau. In Portugal it is chiefly confined to the S., 

 and has not been recorded N. of the Douro: it appears also to be ab- 

 sent from the district N. of the Cantabrian range- in Spain. In S. France 

 though common in some parts of Provence, it was not observed in the 

 Camargue by Eagle Clarke; while in Italy its distribution is somevx^hat 

 irregular, and though a common resident near the Ligurian coast, the 

 Marches and Apulia, is only accidental in the Po valley. On the E. side 

 of the Adriatic it is found in S. Dalmatia, Herzegowina, Montenegro, 

 Epirus, and probably also Albania, but never far from the coast: while it 

 is also resident in Corfu, and in Greece, but only in small numbers. It 

 nests also in many of the islands of the Greek Archipelago. It is said 

 to breed also in Turkey, but the records from Bessarabia and Kiew in 

 Russia require confirmation. In the Mediterranean it is characteristic 

 and common in the Balearic Isles, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and 

 Crete. [Probably it also breeds in Asia Minor, but it is best known 

 there as a winter visitor, and its very scarce and local in Cyprus. See 

 also note at end on the forms inhabiting the Canaries, N. W. Africa, 

 Syria etc.] 



Nest. Usually placed from 2 to 4 ft. from the ground, often in a thick 



bush in some sheltered spot close to a wall and well concealed, but 

 occasionally quite conspicuous. It is said sometimes to build in trees, 

 and in Malta generally nests in branches of carob trees, close to the 

 ground. The nest is neatly and substantially built, with thick walls : it is 

 composed of dead stalks and grasses mixed with bits of down, sometimes 

 also dead thistle leaves, lined in some cases with finer grasses and bents, 

 at other times with rootlets or horsehair. Diameter of cup 2 — 21 in., 

 depth li— 2 in. 



Eggs. Usually 4 or 5, sometimes only 3, while Lilford states that 6 have 



been found. They vary in the most extraordinary way. Many eggs are 

 finely speckled all over with pale ochreous and ashy grey on a pale 



