332 



the gardens of the town of Athens from October to March, when it migrates to the northern 

 provinces, where it breeds. Messrs. Elwes and Buckley met with it commonly in Turkey ; and 

 Professor von Nordmann says the same regarding its occurrence in Southern Russia. It visits 

 Odessa in the autumn ; but the larger portion migrate further south, and the few that remain 

 often perish during the cold season. On the return migration they appear in March. He met 

 with it in Ghouriel at great altitudes in the months of June and July. Menetries records it 

 (Oat. rais. p. 35) as occurring at Lenkoran, in the Caucasus, where, however, it is not common. 

 Strickland does not refer to it as observed by him in Asia Minor ; but Canon Tristram found it 

 generally distributed throughout Palestine in the winter, but none remain later than February. 



It visits Lower Egypt during the winter, where, according to Von Heuglin (Orn. N.O.-Afr. 

 |i. 335), it sometimes remains as late as the middle of March ; and Captain Shelley (B. of Egypt, 

 p. 87) writes that " it is confined to Lower Egypt, where it is only a winter visitant. It is as 

 tame and familiar in the sunny climate of Egypt as it is in England, and appears to welcome the 

 stranger as he sits in the shade of the sont tree, by hopping from bough to bough, and peering 

 inquisitively at him, as though it expected to recognize a friend in the traveller." 



Canon Tristram met with it commonly in Algeria during the winter, in the oases of the 

 Sahara ; and Loche records it as tolerably common, more especially during the season of 

 migration, in all three provinces of Algeria. Major Irby informs me that "many breed 

 near Tangiers ; but on both sides of the Straits there is a great accession to their numbers 

 during the winter months." It is found on the Azores, where, according to Mr. F. DuCane 

 Godman (Nat. Hist. Azor. p. 23), "though common in the eastern and central groups, the 

 Redbreast does not occur in the two western islands. Through the kindness of some of my 

 friends I have been able to compare my specimens with examples from Algeria, Tunis, and 

 Southern Italy, with which I find that they exactly agree in their light-coloured plumage. 

 Mr. Gould showed me one he shot in Teneriffe, which is precisely similar to our British and 

 darker form." The same gentleman also met with it in the Canaries and Madeira, and writes 

 (Ibis, 1872, p. 173) that examples from these islands are identical with the darker northern 

 form. It is seldom found, he says, near the coast in Teneriffe and Gran Canaria; but at an 

 elevation of from 2000 to 8000 feet above the sea it is very common. Dr. C. Bolle (J. f. O. 

 1854, p. 454) says that it inhabits the wood at Teneriffe; and he observed it in the wood near 

 Laguna, where it seems to be resident. In October 1852 he met with it in the gardens of 

 Uealejo, near Orotava. 



To the eastward the Redbreast is recorded by Mr. Keith Abbott (P. Z. S. 1834, p. 133) 

 from Trebizond ; and Messrs. Dickson and Ross (P. Z. S. 1839, p. 120) met with it near Erzeroom 

 in November. 



De Filippi records it from near Khend and the Ghilan, in Persia ; and I have received from 

 Mr. Blanford specimens both of the ordinary form and also of a closely allied but fairly distinct 

 species, also obtained by him in Persia, and named by him Erithacus hyrcanus, differing chiefly in 

 having the tail-feathers broadly margined with bright ferruginous, and the red on the throat and 

 breast richer in colour. 



In Japan the present species is replaced by a closely allied form (Lusciola akahige), differing, 

 however, in having below the red on the breast a band of blackish, which on the flanks becomes 



