30i THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



The breeding area of this species extends, according toSeebohm, 

 through Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Turkestan, and Persia, as 

 well as to the north-eastem parts of Africa. 



The example shot here undoubtedly belongs to the eastern 

 form, S. pallida; the western varietj^, S. opaca (Lichtenstein), 

 which one would hardly expect to meet with here, appears, so far as 

 I am able to judge from the limited material at my disposal, to be 

 a little larger, more inclined to rust colour than to olivaceous, 

 besides diftering in the construction of the wing, — the second 

 flight-feather being of equal length to the seventh, and not, as in 

 S. j)allida, to the sixth. 



The coloration of my specimen is as follows : — All the upper 

 parts, as well as the edges of the smaller and larger wing-coverts, 

 are of a pale olive-brown gi'ey {oliven-hraungrau), with a very 

 marked olive-yellow tinge ; the lower parts are dull whitish 

 ochreous yellow. The flight-feathers and rectrices are pale greyish 

 brown, the outer web of the outermost pair of the latter being 

 whitish. 



The feet of the freshly-killed bird were dark bluish grey, the 

 colour being very dark on the toes ; the bill is of very pale whitish 

 horn colour (weisslich hornfarhen), the tip being hardly darker 

 than the rest of the organ. 



In the wing, the second flight-feather is equal in length to the 

 sixth ; the third, fourth, and fifth form the tip of the wing, the 

 last being about '04 in. (1 mm.), shorter than the other two. 



Total length of the fresh example, 4'68 ins. (119 mm.) ; length of 

 wing, 2'40 ins. (61 mm.) ; length of tail uncovered by wing, -98 in. 

 (2.5 mm.) ; length of tail, 1'92 ins. (49 mm.) ; the outer pair of tail- 

 feathers is 16 in. (4 mm.) shorter than the rest. Length of bill, 

 •43 in. (11 m77i.) ; length of tarsus, -90 in. (23 mm.). 



119. — Booted Warbler [Zwerg-Sanger]. 

 SYLVIA SALICARIA, Pallas.i 



Sylvia (Iduna) salicaria. Naumann, xiii. ; Blasius, Nachtrcige, 79. 

 Booted Warbler. Dresser, ii. 541. 



Riverain botte. Schlegel, Krit. d. Europaischen Vugel, 



pp. XXX. and 60. 



' Here is a small Reed Warbler with the tail of an ordinary 

 Warbler.' These were the words with which Glaus Aeuckens pre- 

 sented to me, on the 2Sth of September 1S51, a small bird which 

 he had just shot. And the bird was indeed almost an exact minia- 



' Hypolais calir/ata { Liclit. ). 



