386 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



Garden Warbler {Sylvia simjylex Lath.), but in Latham's 

 description the bird is said not to occur in England ! 



Sylvia atricapilla (p. 67). " Birds from Madeira and the 

 Canary Islands have been separated as a distinct race^ 

 This is true in so far as it goes, but the fact that Sylvia 

 a. atricajnlla visits the Canary Islands regulax-ly on migra- 

 tion, sometimes in large numbers, is ignored. The European 

 Blackcap does not remain to breed, but passes through the 

 Archipelago. It can be distinguished from the resident 

 race, S. a. obscura, by having invaiiably a thick layer of fat 

 surrounding the body, which is absent in the subspecies ; 

 moreover, the resident race, which never migrates, is 

 slightly darker. For accounts of migratory movements of 

 the European Blackcap in the Canary Islands, see Meade- 

 Waldo (Ibis, 1893, p. 189), von Thanner (Orn. Jahrb. 

 1910). 



Sylvia melanocephala (p. 68). " The Sardinian WarbW is a 

 partial resident in the countries and islands of the Mediter- 

 7'anean, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. ... In the western 

 Canary Islands it is represented by S. m. leucogastra, ..." 

 From the above it certainly appears that two distinct races 

 of the Sardinian Warbler occur as resident forms in the 

 Archipelago. The type locality of ^S*. m. leucogastra is cer- 

 tainly in the western group, i. e. Tenerife, but if this insular 

 race is to be ' kept up ' we must certainly include the Sar- 

 dinian Wai'blers of Fuerteventui-a and Lanzarote under the 

 same subspecific name (vide Ibis, 1914, p. 247). 



■TuRDUS PILARIS (p. 88). " It tvioiters . . . i7i small numbers . . . in 

 the Canary Islands" In reality the Fieldfare is one of the 

 rarest irregular migrants to the Archijjelago. Meade- Waldo 

 saw one bird in three years, 1889-91. The next record is in 

 1903, when some birds came to Lanzarote on the 20th of 

 October, stayed about a month and then all departed. This 

 is the last record to date. 



Flammea flammea (p. 128). " The Barji-Otol ranges from the 

 Azores, . . . to Greece^ The exceedingly interesting fact 

 that the Barn-Owl of Tenerife is quite indistinguishable 

 from the typical European examples, and therefore that its 

 southern range is considerably extended, is not noted. It is 

 remarked (correctly) that a distinct race inhabits the Canary 



