252 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
For the most part this scrub grows no higher than a man’s 
waist, and is composed almost exclusively of broom, and 
tree-heath (Hrica arborea), and such well-known aromatic 
plants as Cistus albidus and monspeliensis, rosemary, thyme, 
myrtle, Euphorbia, and lavender, and many more that I am 
not botanist enough to name. The sun’s rays seem to liberate 
their delicately pungent scents, and as one forces a passage 
through the dense growth the hot air is filled with their sweet 
perfume. But on these arid tracts of land, so interesting 
from an entomologist’s and botanist’s point of view, bird-life is 
sadly deficient, and to-day the Black-headed or Mediterranean 
Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) was the only other species I met 
with in the “‘maquis” proper, and even this southern bird 
seems to prefer the outskirts of the cork-woods and the more 
shady fringe of the pine-forest. With his plush-black crown and 
snow-white throat the male is a very handsome fellow, but he is 
shy of showing his beauty, and I fancy the best way to observe 
him is to stand stock-still, when his curiosity will almost 
certainly bring him into view. On seeing the intruder he 
always utters a low, scolding ‘“‘ cher, cher,” which is taken up 
by his mate in a slightly different key—‘‘ char, char.” Most 
likely they have already got a nest in a clump of broom or 
heath, for I have frequently seen eggs by the beginning of 
March, though, like many sedentary birds, they are very irregular 
in their nesting habits, and some pairs do not lay until much 
later. Two, probably three, broods are reared in the year. 
On my way home I explored a portion of the woodlands, 
and found a couple of Short-toed Tree-Creepers (Certhia brachy- 
dactyla ultramontana) feeding on some cork-trees. These birds, 
as well as Tits, appear to be greatly attracted by these trees, no 
doubt on account of the abundance of insect-food they find 
ensconced among the corrugations of the rough bark. Last 
year, in the same district, I found a Creeper’s nest containing 
six beautifully marked eggs; these were much more heavily 
and richly spotted than any I have seen taken in England, but 
I believe this is invariably the case with the eggs of this 
‘‘Short-toed”’ race. By the way, even at a distance, the 
dappled backs of these birds appear to be conspicuously greyer 
than in our British Tree-Creeper (Certhia familiaris britannica, 
