230 



blurred at the edges and shade off into the surrounding ground-colour. 

 Pale violet-grey underlying markings are usually present. They 

 measure from 78 to '83 in length, and from -58 to -6 in breadth. 



4. S.E. Europe. Crowley Bequest. 



5. Orenburg, E. Russia, 20th May. W. Radcliffe Saunders, Esq. 



[P.]. 

 4. Orenburg, 25th May. W. Radcliffe Saunders, Esq. 



[P.I 

 2. Astrakhan, 28th April. Crowley Bequest. 



Genus EMBERIZA, Briss. 

 Emberiza schceniclus, Linn. 



Emberiza schceniclus, Thien. Fortpflanz. ges. Vog. p. 3G9, tab. xxxiii. 



fig. 9, a-c ^1845-54) ; Hewitson, Eygs of Brit. Birds, i. p. 187, 



pi. xlvii. fig. i (1856) ; Seebohm $ Harvie-Brown, Ibis, 1876, p. 117 ; 



Dresser, Birds Eur. iv. p. 241 (1878) ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, p. 339 ; 



id., Brit. Birds, ii. p. 135, pi. 15 (1884) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. 



xii. p. 480 (1888) ; Seebohm, Eggs of Brit. Birds, p. 248, pi. 57. 



figs. 13 & 14 (1896) ; Dresser, Man. Pal. Birds, pt. i. p. 370 (1902) ; 



Jourd. Eggs Eur op. Birds, p. 113, pi. 14. figs. 2-6 (1906) ; Sharpe, 



Hand-l. v. p. 276 (1909). 



Schoenicolaarundinacea,,&rte<M:er. Eier Eur. Vog. tab. 3. fig. 4 (1855-63). 

 Schcenicola schoeniclus, Hey, Eier Vog. Mitteleurop. p. 292, pi. 38. 



figs. 2-6 (1900). 

 Emberiza schceniclus schoeniclus, Hartert. Vog. Pal. Faun. pt. ii. p. 191 



(1904). 



Eggs of the Reed-Bunting are of a broad, pointed oval form and 

 have a considerable amount of gloss. The ground-colour varies from 

 olive-grey to a purplish- clay-colour, and is spotted and more or 

 less covered with a tracery of coarse twisted and knotted lines of a 

 dark purplish-brown colour, almost black at times. These spots and 

 lines are frequently blurred at the edges and run into the surrounding, 

 ground-colour, and are coarser and more numerous at the larger end 

 of the egg than elsewhere. The underlying markings consist of 

 smaller spots and finer lines of violet-grey. As a rule there is a 

 great uniformity among the eggs of this Bunting, but in one clutch 

 from Tilford, the ground-colour of three of the eggs is pale 

 greenish-blue, while in a fourth it is nearly pure white. The 

 markings consist of spots and blotches of pale violet-grey and 

 brownish-grey, and on three of the eggs there is an irregular black 

 hairline across the broad end, where the markings are most numerous. 

 They measure from *7 to *85 in length, and from *54 to *6 in 

 breadth. 



5. Carlisle, Cumberland, 10th May. W. Radcliffe Saunders, Esq. 



[P.J. 

 5. Carlisle, June. W. Radcliffe Saunders. Esq. 



[P.I. 



5. Near Climy, Ross-shire, 30th May Seebohm Coll. 

 (Hargitt Coll.}. 



