356 SYLVIA CINEREA. 



rank plants in the vicinity of a hedge or thicket, and is ele- 

 gantly but loosely constructed, the exterior being composed 

 chiefly of withered stems of Galium aparine, with similar 

 slender and brittle or flexible stalks, some fine grass, and a little 

 hair, all neatly arranged, but from the unpliant nature of the 

 goose-grass, which bends only in an angular manner, leaving 

 large vacuities. The lining is of finer filaments, with hair of 

 various kinds, and neatly smoothed. The eggs, generally five, 

 are of a regular oval form, greenish- white, spotted and freckled 

 with greyish-green and purplish-grey, their average dimensions 

 nine twelfths by six and three quarters. In the south of Scot- 

 land, the nest is seldom completed until the end of May. 



This species is met with in all the lower parts, and in most 

 of the valleys of the north of Scotland, and as you proceed from 

 thence southward, you find it generally distributed ; but in 

 places where the shelter of thickets or hedges is not to be 

 found, it does not make its appearance. Its song ceases to be 

 heard about the middle of July, and by the end of September 

 it has disappeared. 



YouxG. — The young when fledged have the bill less dusky, 

 and the feet paler than those of the adults. The upper parts 

 are of a uniform reddish-brown ; the quills more broadly mar- 

 gined with light-red, the lateral tail-feathers reddish-white in 

 their whole extent, with the shaft dusky, the lower parts 

 greyish- white, tinged with brown. 



Remarks. — This species is very intimately allied to the pre- 

 ceding, but may readily be distinguished from it by compar- 

 ing the specific characters given above. Its bill is considerably 

 shorter, and less expanded at the base ; the tail is proportionally 

 longer. The lateral feathers of that of the other species are 

 dusky like the rest, the quills are not edged with red, and the 

 tarsi are leaden-coloured. 



The above descriptions of the male and female are taken 

 from two fresh specimens shot on the 22d of May, and exa- 

 mined internally as well as externally ; the female ascertained 

 by her largely developed oviduct, the eggs having all been laid. 



