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feeding her young, which were safely housed in a hole under the roof of a cottage close by ; and 
on the rocks behind the mulberry-tree several pairs of the Syrian Nuthatch were within a few 
yards of us. Their loud and shrill notes were constantly to be heard. They seemed to confine 
themselves exclusively to the rocks; and we never saw one alight, even, on the trunk of a tree. If 
not so active as a Titmouse, they are certainly quite as much at home on their feet. Their mode 
of progression seems to be by a succession of little jerks; and it appears to be immaterial to them 
whether their road be horizontal or perpendicular. They will run up the side of a rock, turn 
round, and run down again with the greatest ease. They will often take wing, flitting from rock 
to rock in search of their insect food, as a Titmouse does from tree to tree. They breed in caves 
and recesses of old ruins. Behind the village of Nymphion was a magnificent mountain-gorge, 
not unlike Dovedale in Derbyshire, or Yordale Scar in Yorkshire. The rocks appear to be 
mountain limestone, fantastic in shape, full of caves and hollows, and forming, as the tourists 
say, ‘a romantic valley,’ or rather cluster of valleys. Dr. Kriiper and I made many exploring 
raids into this valley. There were generally a pair or two of birds of prey to be seen on 
the wing. The Griffon and Egyptian Vultures were generally noticed, and sometimes the 
Imperial, Spotted, Booted, or Short-toed Eagle. In the caves we sometimes found the nest of 
the Daurian Swallow, and once that of the Rock-Martin, and very often that of the Syrian 
Nuthatch. The nest of this bird is a very curious structure. A recess in the rock is selected, 
and a funnel, made of mud and little bits of dry grass, is built in front of it. It is quite an 
important affair: the base is frequently twenty-four inches in circumference; and the walls vary 
in thickness from half an inch to an inch and a half. The tube of the funnel, which of course 
serves for the ingress and egress of the bird, is about four inches long, with an internal diameter 
of an inch and a quarter at the entrance. The outside of the nest is carefully made to resemble 
the appearance of the rock against which it is built. One which I brought home with me is 
curiously corrugated or granulated to imitate the calcareous deposit on the inside of the cave 
where I found it. The nest is warmly lined with goat’s wool, thistle-down, and all sorts of soft 
material. As might be expected in a bird which remains in its summer home during the winter, 
it is an early breeder, laying its eggs about the middle of April; and it would not appear to 
breed a second time in the year, as all the nests I found in June were empty. ‘The number of 
eggs varies from six to ten. ‘They are very beautiful, well marked, and unlike any other egg 
with which I am acquainted. ‘The typical egg is about the size of the egg of our Wryneck, but 
rather wider, and flatter at the top, and straighter at the sides. It has the same pearly white 
ground-colour, spotted with large rust-colonred blotches, which are chiefly ina zone round the 
large end, and often more or less confluent. Sometimes the spots are only minute specks; and in 
both cases they are sometimes sparingly distributed over the whole surface. I have several eggs 
which are pure white. ‘They are also subject to great variations in size and shape. Some are 
scarcely larger than the egg of the House-Martin; some are long and narrow, and others short 
and wide.” 
Eggs, in Dresser’s collection, of this species, collected in Greece and Asia Minor by Dr. Kriiper, 
differ from those of Sitta cesia and S. europea in being larger and stouter, and having the spots 
larger, fewer, and scattered all over the surface of the egg. In size they measure from 33 by 33 
to 25 by {6 ich. Dr. Rey writes that he has eggs from Asia Minor and Greece, some of which 
