454 Letters, Annuuncements, i^c. 



as follows : — ''On the IGtli August, 1884_, I was out rabbit- 

 shooting near Broadford, in the Isle of Skye, when I saw a 

 bird unknown to me flyiug up a ravine, and I followed it up 

 aud shot it. This is the bird you pronounced to be Sylvia 

 nisoria. A friend of mine had previously drawn my atten- 

 tion (close to where I shot the young one) to the note of 

 a bird which I did not know/^ From this it would appear 

 that there was in all probability an adult Barred Warbler at 

 Broadford, besides the young lird which Mr. Lees obtained. 

 Thus it seems not improbable that this species may have nested 

 in the Isle of Skye in 1884, and that all the above-named 

 three specimens may have belonged to the same brood. 



When I was working at the ' Birds of Europe,' Major 

 Feilden wrote to me to say that he had found the Sardinian 

 Warbler {Sylvia melanocephala) in Malta in the summer of 

 1874, and had little doubt that it remained to breed there. 

 This surmise is shown to be correct by the following extract 

 from a letter which I have lately received from Dr. David 

 Bruce, who is now quartered at Malta : — " So far as I am 

 aware_, there is no i*ecord of the nest of the Sardinian Warbler 

 having been found here [Malta]. This summer these birds 

 are moderately common^ and I have found two nests, one 

 emj)ty, the other with three eggs. To make sure of the fact, 

 I shot the female off the nest, and I send you by this post a 

 sketch of the nest and eggs. The nest was placed in the fork 

 of a carob-tree, about four feet from the ground, very loosely 

 constructed of dry grasses, stalks of umbelliferous plants, and 

 lined with yellow fibrous threads^ of which I enclose samples, 

 and I also enclose sketch of the male, as I believe there has 

 been some subdivision of the species. The only rare birds I 

 have shot this spring are — one Dartford Warbler [Melizophilus 

 provincialis) , only once previously recorded by Schembri ; one 

 Great White Heron {Ardea alba), which was included by 

 Mr. C. A. Wright in his ' List of the Birds of Malta,' also 

 on Scherabri''s authority ; aud two Cream-coloured Coursers 

 {Cursorius gallicus)." Yours &c., 



H, E. Dresser. 



