THE RUFOUS WARBLERS. 201 



dodging in and out the side branches in search of insects, 

 perching for a moment on the topmost spray ; but before you 

 have time to get your binocular on to the bird, the latter 

 catches sight of your movement, and drops down into the 

 furze as if shot." 



Nest. — This is a very neatly constructed cup, rather deep, and 

 more strongly built to outward appearance than that of most 

 Warblers. It is made of fine grass-stalks, very neatly inter- 

 twined and supported by a little moss and wool, with the 

 grass-stalks sticking out in every direction. The inner lining is 

 of finer grass-stems with a little horsehair. 



Eggs. — Four or five in number. The markings partake of 

 the character of the Whitethroat's eggs, but those of the Dart- 

 ford Warbler are more regularly and thickly clouded with spots. 

 The general type of egg has the ground-colour greenish-white, 

 almost hidden by spots of greenish-brown, thickly sprinkled all 

 over the egg, though in some cases clouding the larger end. 

 The underlying grey markings are also distinct. In the lighter 

 type of egg the ground-colour is greenish-white, spotted with 

 greenish-brown all over the egg, but more thickly at the larger 

 end, where the grey underlying markings are distinct. Axis, 

 o'7-o'75 inch; diam., 0*5. 



THE RUFOUS WARBLERS. GENUS AEDON: 



Aedon, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 972. 



Type, A. galactodes (Teram.). 



The Rufous Warblers, formerly named, by a curious mis- 

 apprehension of the habits of the birds, the Rufous " Sedge- 

 Warblers," are two in number, and they are aptly called by 

 Salvadori the Nightingale of Africa and the Nightingale of the 

 Levant. The first is a bird of the Mediterranean countries, 

 while the second, A'edon familiaris, is the Eastern representa- 

 tive of the genus, and instead of migrating north and south 

 like A. galactodes, its movements are east and west, as it is said 

 to occur in Italy, which brings its range across that of A. galac- 

 todes. Count Salvadori, however, does not regard its occur- 

 rence in Italy as completely proved. 



The Rufous Warblers are both species of somewhat large size. 



