ICTERINE WARBLER 77 



follows : " Those interested in Natural History, more 

 particularly in Ornitholof^y, will be pleased to hear of 

 the capture, for the first time in the British Isles, of 

 the Icterdne Warbler ^ {Hijpolais icterina), which was 

 killed at Eythorne, near Dover, on June 15, 1848. It 

 is a beautiful specimen, and in the most perfect plumage, 

 and the person who shot it was attracted by its extra- 

 ordinary loud and melodious song. It is a species which 

 has hitherto never been found in England, and Gould 

 states, in his Birds of Europe, that it is somewhat 

 singular that this species, so familiar to every naturalist 

 on the Continent, and which inhabits the gardens and 

 hedgerows of those portions of the coasts of France and 

 Holland that are immediately opposite our own, should 

 not, like the rest of its immediate congeners, more 

 diminutive in size, and consequently less capable of 

 performing extensive flights, have occasionally strayed 

 across the Channel and enlivened our glens and groves 

 with its rich and charming song, which is far superior 

 to that of either of the three other species of the group, 

 and only equalled by those of the Blackcap and Nightin- 

 gale. The bird, beautifully preserved by Mr. C. Gordon, 

 of the Dover Museum, is in the possession of Mr. John 

 Chaffey, of Dodington, whose collection of rare British 

 birds is unrivalled." 



The specimen is now in the collection of Dr. Scott, 

 of Chudleigh. 



' In the Zoologist, 1848, tliis bird appeared under the name of the 

 Melodious Willow-Wren {Sijlvia hijjjmlais of Temminck). 



