Ornithology of Northeim Africa. 155 



fortably lined with hair aud wool. The eggs bear some re- 

 semblance to those of the Robin, but are smaller, and always 

 more distinctly and brightly spotted; and some approach closely 

 those of the Grasshopper Warbler. 



But let us search this coarse grass and tamarisk bed carefully; 

 for here, says my guide, we shall find Sylvia cetti. I had the 

 week before obtained a nest near Algiers, but had had no op- 

 portunity of watching the habits of the bird. I am again dis- 

 appointed. The bird has just begun to sit, but has crept away 

 on the first alarm, aud, though we watch some time in the 

 neighbourhood, she does not return. I take the nest with its 

 precious contents of four brilliant red eggs, so strangely different 

 from those of every other Warbler. In colour they are unique 

 among eggs, and show no affinity with any allied species. They 

 form a singular exception to the rule, that a connexion may be 

 traced in all genera between the eggs of the different species. 

 There is one constant type for all the other Aquatic Warblers, 

 The Saxicola, TurditKE, Motacilla, Alaudince, Tyrannida, and 

 others, however widely the extremes may vary, still bear some 

 resemblance to the normal type. Not so with Sylvia cetti. Its 

 affinity seems rather to be with Prinia sonitans (Ibis, ii. p. 50), 

 and may indicate a closer alliance with that genus than has 

 hitherto been admitted. The nest is very loose in its construc- 

 tion, placed in rushes or coarse herbage, its depth more than 

 double its diameter, composed entirely of coarse grass outside 

 and finer stems within, but with no lining of hair or feathers. 

 I afterwards frequently saw the bird, but only for an instant at 

 a time, as it invariably dips among the rushes, and will not take 

 flight when disturbed. I never succeeded in noting its song, if 

 it have one. 



Turning back towards the trees, I am attracted by the song 

 of a bird quite new to me, and, on searching, observe overhead a 

 little sombre-clad warbler, which I shoot, and discover to be an- 

 other species I have not hitherto met with — Sylvia eldica, or S. 

 pallida of Bp. I say or S. pallida ; for though Bonaparte thus di- 

 stinguishes the Algerian from the Greek bird, and states that it 

 is smaller, I can discover no material difference in the speci- 

 mens, and some of my African skins are quite as large as those 



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