WARBLERS. 



503 



easily recognizable by the sub-terminal dark band on the tail, a native of the Spanish 

 peninsula and North Africa, and Sylvia orphea, which extends its range a little further 

 north. The latter is not unlike the black-cap (S. citricapilla), the lower figure on this 

 page, gray, with the upper part of the head black, one of the commonest and best- 

 known warblers of Europe, in Scandinavia ranging north to C9 north latitude. The 

 black-cap is highly esteemed for its melodious song, and therefore often held in con- 

 finement. Says Mr. Dixon : " You hear a soft, plaintive note, sounding as though its 

 author were a hundred yards away ; gradually it rises in its tone ; you think the bird 



r ~ 



FIG. 247. Sylvia nisoria, barred warbler; S. salicarla, garden warbler ; S. atricapilla, black-cap. 



is coming nearer ; louder and louder become the notes, till they sound as if the black- 

 bird, song-thrush, wren, robin, and warbler were all singing together. You perchance 

 cast your eyes into the brunches above, and there see the little black-capped songster; 

 and, after watching him, find that all these lovely notes, low and soft, loud and full, 

 come from his little throat alone, and when at the same distance from you so great 

 are his powers of modulation." The tAvo other species represented in the same cut 

 are also well-known European warblers, S. nisoria being one of the largest and most 

 distinctly-marked species. Its breeding range seems to be very peculiar, since it is 

 only known to breed in a rather narrow belt from southern Sweden through Germany, 



