PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 95 



from Southern Sweden and Russia south of the Gulf of Finland and Archangel, 

 while in the Urals it reaches lat. 58. Over the rest of the Continent it is found in 

 marshy localities, being especially common in Friesland, South Spain and South 

 Russia. It breeds also in North Africa, from the Canaries and Marocco to Egypt, 

 and in Asia is found east to the Ob valley and Kashmir, and south to the Euphrates 

 valley. In Northern Europe it is migratory, ranging in Africa commonly to 

 Abyssinia and in small numbers to German East Africa, Angola, Mashonaland 

 and the Transvaal, while in Asia it reaches India, Ceylon, Burma and the Malay 

 Peninsula. South European and North African birds are sedentary. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. A few may still be resident in midland and western 

 localities of Ireland, wandering to some extent in autumn (cf . Ussher and Warren, 

 B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 119). In England, apart from occasional attempts 

 to nest in Norfolk, it is now only a rare spring and autumn migrant from the 

 Continent, penetrating at times to Wales and the western counties (cf. Forrest, 

 Fauna ofN. Wales, 1907, p. 261 ; Clark and Rodd, Zoologist, 1906, p. 299 ; J. Clark, 

 Zoologist, 1906, p. 284 ; etc.). There are very few Scottish records. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is usually built in a reed-bed, or under 

 cover of aquatic vegetation of some kind, and is composed of dead reeds and 

 sedges, lined with rather finer but similar material. The amount of material used 

 varies considerably, and I have seen additional material carried to the nest during 

 incubation. Sometimes the nest is said to be placed in the lower branches of a tree, 1 

 or more probably a bush. (PI. LXH.) Probably both sexes share in the work 

 of nest-building. The eggs vary from three to five as a rule in number, occasionally 

 six, and are white or bluish white in colour. Occasionally eggs with red-brown 

 markings, more or less distinct, have been assigned to this species. Average size 

 of 100 eggs, 1'93 x 1/5 in. [49'1 x 38*3 mm.]. No reliable information is available 

 as to the period of incubation ; Tiedemann includes it in the 21-24 days' group, 

 but this seems a short period for a large Accipitrine bird. In those cases where I 

 have been able to distinguish the sex of the sitting bird, incubation was performed 

 by the female. The breeding season in N. Germany and Holland begins at the 

 end of April or early in May, but many birds do not lay till late in May. If the 

 first clutches are taken the parents will lay again and again, so that fresh eggs may 

 be found in June, but possibly in some cases a second brood is reared. In Spain 

 the breeding season is earlier, and eggs may be obtained from the end of March 

 onwards. [F. c. B. J.] 



1 Cf. Yarrell, 4th ed., i. p. 130 ; Gurney, Rambles of a Naturalist, p. 144, note. 



