160 Letter's, Extracts, Notices, S^c. 



Sirs, — On the 28tli November I obtained a sj)2ciraen of the 

 Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisuria) at Bloxham. The weather 

 had for some days beenv ery inclement^ with strong winds from 

 S.E., and five inches of snow on the ground on the 23rd. 

 Thebird looked very miserable and dejected, and would not, I 

 think, have survived a spell of severe frost. When I first 

 saw it, it was feeding on the watery berries of the asparagus, 

 which are almost, if not entirely, untouched by our native 

 birds. After flying into a shrubbery, it returned to the 

 asparagus. The bird-stuffer who preserved the bird sent me 

 the contents of its stomach, which consisted of merely the 

 seeds and the remains of a few of these berries. Its weight 

 was barely one ounce. It proved to be a male (bird-stuff'er^s 

 report), and is in immature plumage; the under parts are of 

 a plain greyish tint, suffused on the breast and lower belly 

 with buff, and the characteristic crescentic markings of the 

 adult are wanting. The bright edges of the wing-coverts are, 

 however, conspicuous ; the flanks are obscnrely barred ; the 

 under tail-coverts have dark centres ; the rump is slightly 

 barred, and the sides of the neck obscurely so. Tlie general 

 colour of the upper parts is ash-grey. It may be worth 

 while stating that, when seen at a little distance in life, the 

 Barred Warbler looks like a plain grey-coloured bird. Its 

 flight is heavy, and the wings in flight are somewhat 

 depressed. This specimen measured Q'7 inches in total 

 length ; wing 3*4 inches. Pupil large ; iris rather narrow, 

 of a pale clay-brown ; bill pale horn-colour, darker and 

 browner at the tip and along the culmen ; tarsi and toes 

 strong, of a light lead-grey colour. 



This specimen (the sixteenth procured in these islands) has 

 some claim to especial interest. The original British-killed 

 example, procured at Cambridge many years ago, and the bird 

 now recorded, are the only specimens which have been obtained 

 in one of our inland counties, and the present bird had 

 wandered further inland than any of the other Barred Warblers 

 which have straggled to our shores. Of the sixteen recorded 

 British examples, five have been procured in East Yorkshire 

 and Lincolnshire, five in Norfolk, two in Scotland, two in 



