1920.] Birds of Quetta. 157 



Sylvia hortensis. 



S. h. crassirostrh Cretzschmar. (= aS. jerdon'i Gates, 

 F. B. I.) 



A common summer visitor to the hills, arriving in late 

 April and commencing to move south about the end of 

 Auanst. Nests with five and four eggs were found on 81. v. 

 at 8500 and 9000 feet on Takatu, and with five, four, and 

 five young on 31. v., 7.vi., and 10. vi. betw^een 7500 and 

 10,000 feet. They were usually in a wild briar or almond 

 bush about three feet from the ground, and were made of 

 coarse grass with a fine grass lining, being I'G inches deep 

 inside and 2'4 inches inside diamefer from lip to lip. In one 

 case the eggs were .vhite with light brown, bluish brown, 

 and dark brown spots, larger at the base, and in another case 

 the eggs were white with a ring of big bluish black and dark 

 brown spots at the larger end of the egg. 



Marshall (B. N. IT. ►S. October 1903) describes a nest 

 placed ten feet from the ground at the end of a drooping 

 branch of a fair-sized tree, composed outside of thin sticks 

 and lined with fibres, the whole being rather a ilimsy con- 

 struction. The eggs were white with spots of two shades 

 of green. 



The song of this bird is extremely l)eautiful and is delivered 

 from the inside and not from the top of a bush. Both parents 

 are adepts at feigning injury when the nest is disturbed, 

 when they will fly and flutter in their distraction almost 

 under an intruder's feet. 



Sylvia communis. 



*S'. f. irierops Menetr. 

 On 24:. vii. when at an altitude of 7500 feet near Ziarat, 

 I noticed a family of what I took to be Whitethroats being 

 fed by their parents. They remained for a fortnight near 

 my tent and I hud im[)le opportunity of observing them. 

 For obvious reasons I refrained from obtaining a specimen 

 for identification. During the next year, on 23. v. on the 

 eastern slopes of Takatu, at 7000 feet, I found a nest with 

 two eggs of this race, and shot the hen bird as she left it. 



