74 RUFOUS WARBLER. 



northern portions of the Peninsula ; but in Southern Portugal and 

 Spain it is abundant from the third week in April until the end of 

 September. To the mainland of Italy it is a somewhat rare 

 straggler ; but it visits Malta on its migrations to and from Northern 

 Africa, where, from Morocco to Egypt, it is generally distributed 

 throughout the greater part of the year. In winter it goes to 

 Abyssinia, and has been found in the mountains of that country in 

 May at an elevation of 3,500 feet. In April, according to Canon 

 Tristram, it arrives in Palestine, and breeds to the south of Beyrout ; 

 but north of the Lebanon we meet with a very closely-allied species, 

 Aedon familinris, which is much less rufous on the upper parts, 

 and has the central pair of tail-feathers brown instead of chestnut. 

 The latter breeds in Asia Minor, Persia, Turkey, Greece, the 

 Caucasian district, and Turkestan ; wandering, strange to say, across 

 the line of Aedon galacfodes, to Italy, Nice, and even Heligoland. 



Breeding begins by the end of May ; the rather bulky nest being 

 often placed, without any attempt at concealment, at some distance 

 from the ground, on a branch or in a fork of a tamarisk bush ; some- 

 times between the roots of a tree in a bank-side ; and frequently in 

 the cactus-hedges which border vineyards. Wool, hair, feathers and 

 any soft materials are used for the lining, amongst which a piece of 

 snake's-skin is generally to be found. The eggs, usually 5 in 

 number, are pale grey, streaked and blotched with ash-brown and 

 dull violet, much resembling those of the Tawny Pipit : measure- 

 ments -88 in. by -Gt, in. In its habits this bird is lively and restless, 

 constantly flirting its expanded tail ; whence its Spanish names of 

 ' Alza-cola,' and ' Alza-rabo.' I have not found it to be at all shy, 

 until it becomes conscious of being watched and followed : a pro- 

 ceeding which it naturally resents, as do most birds. The original 

 English name of Rufous Sedge Warbler is remarkably inappropriate, 

 as the bird is never seen in sedges, and is rather partial to arid 

 places. Its food consists of insects. The song resembles that of 

 the Redbreast, delivered in Thrush-like jerks (Aplin). 



Adult male : upper parts chestnut-brown ; a broad whitish streak 

 above the eye to the nape ; quills brown with reddish-bufif margins ; 

 tail rich chestnut with a narrow blackish terminal band on the two 

 central feathers, and a broad sub-terminal black band with increasingly 

 large white tips from the centre to the outer feathers ; under parts 

 sandy-white, more tawny on the breast and flanks ; bill, legs and 

 feet brown. I^ength 6-5 in. ; wing to the end of the 3rd and longest 

 quill 3-5 in. The female is slighdy, if at all, smaller and paler than 

 the male. 



