8 CIRCUS .ERUOTNOSUS. 



Mr. A. B. Brooke, in his notes on the ornithology of Sardinia ('Ibis/ 187.S, p. 151), writes as follows 

 eoncerning a nest in the neighbourhood of Oristano, where these Harriers swarm : — "A nest I found in the 

 end of April was built in the middle of a reedy, marshy lake, placed halfway up the stems of the reeds, just 

 clear of the water; the bottom was formed of rough coarse sticks, and the interior of dried matted rushes, in 

 some eases with their roots attached, the egg lying carelessly in the middle." " The eggs are usually three 

 in number, white, with a pale greenish tinge, and sometimes slightly spotted with bright reddish brown. 

 They measure from 2 - 08 to 1'84 inch in length, by 158 to 1 "44 inch in breadth"*. Mr. Hume describes 

 some eggs in his collection as having a good number of markings, consisting, in one instance, of specks and 

 spots chiefly at one end, and in another of large blotches and smears of pale brown. 



Mr. llcwitson remarks that the eggs are " most commonly white," though they are sometimes spotted. 

 This variation in their character accounts for the difference of opinion expressed by Montagu, Latham, and 

 Sclby on the subject. The figure in Mr. Hewitson's plate represents a slightly-marked egg, there being a 

 few small spots of pale reddish scattered pretty evenly over the surface and intermingled with some pale 

 blotches of bluish grey. As many as five eggs are sometimes laid, though four is the usual number. 



* Newton's ed. Yarr. Brit. Birds, p. 130. 



