Bniish Birds. 



from England and one from Ireland. The most recent occurrence was on the 27lh 

 of Aui;ust, iSgy, when the Rev. H. H. Slater shot an adult female of this Warbler 

 on the coast of Norfolk, and as the bird had evidently bred during the past season, 

 he thinks that the .species may yet be found nesting in the eastern counties of 

 England. From Central Europe to Central Asia the Barred Warbler is a nesting 

 bird, and it reaches Denmark and Southern Sweden, but docs not breed apparently 

 west of the Rhine. It winters in North-eastern Africa and along the Persian Gulf. 



In habits the Barred Warbler resembles our Whitethroats, and is a ver)' shy and 

 skulking bird. It builds a more substantial nest than the last-named birds, of dried 

 grass-stalks and roots mi.xed with plants, thistle-down and wool, and neatly lined 

 with horse-hair and fine roots. The eggs are from four to six in number, creamy- 

 white or light olive, slightlv 

 spotted with greenish-brown, 

 the spots being often so 

 faintly indicated as to appear 

 almost obsolete. 



The Barred Warbler is a 

 little larger than the White- 

 throat and is of a greyish- 

 brown colour above, greyish- 

 white below, with cross-bars 

 of grey. The young are 

 more uniform brown, with 

 the breast and sides of the 

 body ochreous-buff, and 

 there are no bars on the 

 under-surface. 



T H K W H I T F, T H R O A T 



[Svlvia svli'iti ). This species 

 is more rufous than the Barred Warbler or the Lesser Whitethroat, and has pale 

 chestnut edges to the wing-coverts and quills. Another character by which even 

 the young birds can be distinguished as well as the old, is b)- the small size of the 

 first or little ' bastard ' quill, which never reaches beyond the end of the primary- 

 coverts. The colour of the male Whitethroat is greyish-brown and the head is ashy- 

 grey, contrasting with the back. The tail is darker and has the outer feathers edged 

 with white while the chestnut edges to the wing-feathers are \"ery conspicuous ; the 

 under-surface is white, with a pinkish shade on the breast. The female is browner 

 than the male and is whiter underneath, with the pink shade less evident. In winter 

 this pink shade entirely disappears, and the head is also brown like the back. The 

 young birds are browner than the adults, with brown heads and a tint of sandy- 

 buff colour over the lower throat, breast and side of the body. 



The Whitethroat. 

 The Lesser Whitethroat. 



