PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 231 



the middle line, and are continued forwards along the neck to the head ; a short 

 line of the same hue runs along the wing, while a narrow loop of blackish brown 

 encircles the end of the body. [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. In the British Isles this species is chiefly a summer 

 resident in Southern and Eastern England, though a few pass the winter in our 

 south-western counties. In Scotland it has only been recorded twice, and about 

 ten times in Ireland. In England it is very local, though not uncommon in some 

 parts of East Anglia, and at the present time breeds sparingly in Dorset, Hants, 

 Wilts, Sussex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex, while inland it is found in small numbers 

 in Berks, Herts, and Cambridge, and formerly also bred in Bucks, Beds, Oxon, 

 Worcester, and perhaps some other midland counties. In Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 though local, it still survives in fair numbers, but it is doubtful whether it now nests 

 in Lincoln, and it has not bred in Notts since 1891, although a pair or two nest in 

 Yorkshire. Outside the British Isles it breeds in suitable localities throughout 

 Central and Southern Europe, but is absent from Denmark, Scandinavia, and North 

 Russia, ranging south to the Mediterranean and its islands, from the Balearic Isles 

 to Cyprus. In Asia it is known to breed in Asia Minor, Palestine, and Transcaspia 

 eastward through Turkestan to Central Asia, but a smaller race is found in Baluchis- 

 tan, India, and Burma, and the Canaries and North Africa are inhabited by other 

 allied races. It is only partially migratory, but though South European birds are 

 resident, those from farther north winter in the Mediterranean region south to 

 Northern Africa, and it has been recorded from Madeira and the Azores. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. A summer visitor, arriving in the last week of March or 

 early in April, and leaving in October. A few regularly pass the winter in the 

 south-west of England, and at that season it occurs as a rare casual in other 

 districts, including parts of Ireland, in which country it is unknown in summer. 

 A gregarious migrant : " flocking " takes place in October before the birds leave 

 our shores. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. There is little or no lining in the nest-hollow in which 

 the eggs are laid as a rule, though occasionally a few bits of bent and very often 

 rabbit droppings may be found. (PL XLVHI.) The favourite breeding-grounds are 

 commons, down lands, and waste ground, generally in open country where it 

 cannot well be approached unobserved, though it has been known to return to a 

 nesting-place even when trees had grown up close to it. It will also breed, or 

 attempt to do so, in ploughed fields. The eggs are, as a rule, two in number, 

 though there is no doubt that on rare occasions three are laid, and one of the 



