46 ORPHEAN WARBLER. 



it occurs regularly in Dalmatia, Greece, Southern Russia, Turkey, 

 Asia Minor and Palestine; while a form known as S. Jerdoni, with 

 a somewhat larger bill and brighter colouration, is found in Persia, 

 Turkestan and Northern India. South of the ^Mediterranean the 

 Orphean Warbler breeds in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia ; visiting 

 Egypt, and pushing its winter migrations as far south as Nubia. 

 None remain in Europe during the winter. 



The nest, a tolerably compact structure of dry grass, lined with 

 finer bents, thistle-down and the down of the cotton-grass, is 

 generally placed in bushes, such as tamarisks, or in young cork- 

 trees, about twelve feet from the ground. The eggs, usually five, 

 are greyish-white, blotched and slightly scrolled with various shades 

 of brown ; much resembling those of the Lesser Whitethroat, but 

 as large as those of the Garden-Warbler : measurements 78 by "6 in. 

 Nests which I obtained near Malaga often contained one, and 

 sometimes two eggs differing from the others in their abnormal size, 

 and microscopic examination of the texture of their shell by Mr. 

 Sorby, F.R.S., subsequently proved these to be eggs of the Cuckoo. 

 Incubation begins late in April, and while the female is sitting the 

 cock utters his song, louder and harsher than that of the Blackcap, 

 from some neighbouring branch. The food consists principally of 

 insects, varied by fruit in the season. 



Adult male : head to below the eyes black, paler on the nape ; 

 upper parts dark brownish grey, with paler margins and tips to the 

 secondaries ; the outside pair of tail-feathers white on the outer 

 half ; the second and third pairs spotted with white at the tips ; the 

 remainder of all the feathers blackish-brown ; throat white ; breast 

 and flanks buffish-white ; under-tail coverts buff; bill nearly black, 

 paler at the base ; legs and feet dark brown ; iris straw-yellow. The 

 female differs merely in having less contrasted and browner tints. 

 The above descriptions are taken from a pair of birds obtained, with 

 their nest, at Malaga on May 23rd, 1869. Young birds resemble 

 the female. Length 6 in. ; wing, to the tips of the 3rd-4th and 

 longest primaries 3T in. The white on the outer tail-feathers will 

 always serve as a distinction between this species and the Blackcap. 



Mr. W. D'Urban has stated that on April i6th, 1S90, he watched 

 in his garden at Exmouth a Warbler smaller than a Blackcap (which 

 was close by), with jet black head and pure white breast and under- 

 parts. The description suits Sylvia nielanocephala, a species which 

 is common in the South of France and the Peninsula, and which 

 might easily be swept up with the tide of migration. 



