358 SYLVIA GARRULA. 



very long and broadly rounded. The tail is rather long, 

 straight, and rounded. 



The bill is brownish- black, excepting the base of the lower 

 mandible, which is brownish-yellow. The iris yellowish- 

 white. The tarsi, toes, and claws bluish-grey. The general 

 colour of the upper parts is brownish-grey, the head darker, 

 the ear-coverts blackish-grey, those of the eyelids whitish. 

 The feathers of the wings and tail are blackish-brown, edged 

 with greyish-brown ; the outer tail-feather on each side with 

 an oblique longitudinal band of greyish-white, including the 

 terminal half of the inner web and the whole of the outer. The 

 throat, breast and belly, white, the latter tinged with red ; the 

 sides light brownish-grey. 



Length to end of tail 5^^ inches ; extent of wings 8 ; bill 

 along the ridge i*|, along the edge of lower mandible j% ; wing 

 from flexure 2i\ ; tail 2/g ; tarsus }§ ; third toe ^^1, its 

 claw y|. 



Female. — The female is slightly smaller, and resembles the 

 male in colour, only the upper parts are more tinged with 

 brown, the lower with grey, and the cheeks paler. 



Habits. — The White-breasted Warbler arrives about the 

 same time as the White-throated species, appearing in the 

 south of Scotland, where however it is very uncommon, about 

 the 10th of ]May, and in the south of England a fortnight or 

 three weeks earlier. It has been met with in most of the eastern 

 and midland counties of England, becoming gradually rarer as 

 we proceed northward. In Haddingtonshire it has been found 

 by my friend INIr Hepburn, Mr Rennie mentions its occur- 

 rence at Musselburgh and in Ayrshire, and I have met with 

 it near Edinburgh, where however it is extremely uncommon, 

 while the other species is very abundant. It is stated by Dr 

 A. R. Young to occur in the neighbourhood of Paisley in 

 Renfrewshire ; and in the Statistical Report of the Parish of 

 Hamilton, in Lanarkshire, this species is mentioned in the 

 following terms : — " Curruca S^kiella, lesser Whitethroat. This 

 bird, supposed to be confined to England, is common here. The 



