440 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Those examples with blackish on chin and throat have this extended 

 farther down throat than similar females of (E. h. hispanica. In 

 other respects like (E. h. hispanica. 



Juvenile. Like that of (E. h. hispanica. 



First winter. Male. Differing from adult male as in (E. h. 

 hispanica. Crown and mantle considerably darker brown and 

 less sandy than first winter (E. h. hispanica ; scapulars usually 

 darker than in (E. h. hispanica ; black line on fore-head usually 

 present but rarely absent ; black of throat more extended as in 

 adult ; inner webs of wing-feathers usually margined with dull 

 whitish and indistinguishable from (E. h. hispanica but occasionally 

 black as in adult. Moult as in (E. h. hispanica. Summer. Crown 

 and mantle browner than in first summer (E. h. hispanica, some 

 very worn examples are almost white on these parts like adults, 

 but there are always traces of brown edgings. Distinctions between 

 two forms thus not so clear in first winter and summer as in adult 

 males. 



Measurements, structure and soft parts. As in (E. h. hispanica. 



BREEDING-HABITS. Very similar to those of western form. Nest. 

 Also similar but generally lined with hair (Reiser). Eggs. 4 or 5, 

 sometimes 6, much like those of western form, but spots on aver- 

 age more distinct and darker. Average of 86 eggs, 18.9x14.8 

 mm. Breeding-season. From end April and early May onward. 

 Incubation. By hen alone (Reiser) ; period not ascertained. 



FOOD. Probably chiefly insects. Baldamus records coleoptera 

 (Haltica, Carabidse, etc.), and Lynes found small snails, millipedes, 

 beetles, flies, ants, grubs and a few seeds. 



DISTRIBUTION. England. Four obtained and two seen, viz. : 

 male (black-throated) near Bury (Lanes.) May about 8, 1878 (H. 

 Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B., i, p. 307, ZooL, 1886, p. 193); male 

 near Pett (Sussex) Sept. 9, 1905 (M. J. Nicoll, Bull. B.O.C., 

 xvi, p. 22) ; female and male Westfield and Pevensey (Sussex) 

 April 21 and 30, 1914 (J. B. Nichols, Brit. B., ix," p. 121) ; 

 male (black-throated) seen Cleveland Hills (Yorks.) June 6, 1915 

 (W. S. Medlicott, op. cit., ix, p. 122) ; male (black-throated) pro- 

 bably of this form seen by H. Massev near Didsbury (Lanes.) 

 March 29, 1915 (F. C. R. Jourdain, op. cit., ix, p. 155). 



DISTRIBUTION. Abroad. breeds from western Persia, Asia Minor 

 and Palestine westwards throughout Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, 

 Roumania, south Russia (Crimea) to Montenegro, Croatia and 

 Dalmatia, and perhaps in south Italy (Apulia, Calabria, Sicily ?). 

 Migrates through Egypt and Nubia and winters in eastern Sudan 

 and Abyssinia. On passage not very rare in Italy, rare in Tripoli, 

 Tunisia, and Algeria. ((E. h. gaddi from west Persia is evidently 

 only a variety, occurring with white and black throat.) 



