88 THE NATURALIST. 



NOTES ON THE AZUKE-WINGED MAGPIE (Pica cyanea), &c. 



By G. F. Mathews, Esq., R.N., F.L.S. 



('Concluded from jpage 71. J 



Sylvia melanocephala , Lath. These lively and interesting little birds 

 were exceedingly numerous all around Lisbon, haunting gardens and dry 

 hedges in preference to low marshy situations, or thick woods ; and might 

 generally be seen flitting from bush to bush in search of food, at the same 

 time uttering a soft call-note, which, on the approach of anyone, would be 

 changed to a harsh grating sound, something similar to that made use of 

 by our common whitethroat when its nest or its young are endangered by the 

 presence of a suspected enemy. The males appeared greatly to predomi- 

 nate, and among other habits, delighted in flying from the summit of a 

 bush into the air some thirty feet high, w^here, fluttering for a few moments 

 with seeming difliculty, they would pour forth a short and not unpleasing 

 song, descending at its conclusion into the depths of the hedge as if 

 ashamed of their performance. 



Sylvia provincialis, Bl. and Ks. (Dartford Warbler). I observed but a 

 pair of these birds, one of which I shot, on a large open piece of country 

 near Almada. They were flying about some heath and broom bushes and 

 I at once recognized them. 



Sylvia cisticola, Lin. This beautiful and minute species was common 

 in every marsh, always on the move, flitting from one clump of rushes to 

 another in quest of food, sometimes varying their operations by flying into 

 the air in chase of small insects, snapping at them and making a noise 

 with their beaks after the manner of our Spotted Flycatcher. They were 

 evidently of a very fearless disposition, as they allowed one to approach them 

 within a few yards as they sat swinging to and fro on a single rush. 



Of our British species of Syhiadcc I noticed locmtella, Phragmitis, 

 atricapilla, cinerea, sihllatrix, trochilus, and riifa, the three latter being by 

 far the most abundant. Many of these were doubtless awaiting the 

 arrival of spring to migrate northward, and enliven with their sweet 

 melodious warblings the shady lanes and green woods of old England. 



Alauda calandra, Lin. This magniflcent Lark was tolerably common 

 in some localities near Lisbon, haunting especially the semi-uncultivated 

 country in the neighbourhood of Villa Franca and Rcguengo, feeding to- 

 gether with our common A. arvensis, but at once to be distinguished from 



