138 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The subject of this memoir was suggested to me by my friend, 

 Mr. John Paterson, and he termed it, in advance, " The Sylviidae 

 of Sohvay." Left to myself, I should most likely have entitled 

 it "The Warblers of Solway," for they stand pre-eminent 

 amongst all the feathered choir as the family that offers us 

 musical strains of surpassing sweetness. 



The British Sylviida; are twenty-four in number, and of these 

 we have in Solway only nine. Eleven of the British species are 

 visitants of more or less rarity, and another one, Savi's Warbler, 

 formerly a breeding species, has become extinct. All of them 

 are quietly coloured birds, unobtrusive browns, greens, and greys 

 prevailing. 



In the aggregate, when their sunnner quarters are fully 

 occupied for the season, they are an enormous host, and, being 

 almost exclusively insectivorous, their presence is extremely 

 beneficial. 



With the exception of the Dartford Warbler, which is 

 stationary, all the others are true migrants, leaving us entirely 

 in winter, except an occasional stray individual of the Blackcap 

 and the Chiff Chaff, that sometimes maintains a precarious 

 existence in the south-west corner of England. 



Without further preliminaries, I proceed to the consideration 

 of the Solway species. 



THE SYLVIID^ OF SOLWAY. 



I. — The Whitethroat. 



(Sylvia cinerea.) 

 Dear to our heart as a bird's-nesting boy were the nest and 

 eggs of the Whitethroat, and even yet there is no sense of 

 satiety in the interest with which I find and examine the 

 beautiful nest home of this species. There is a wonderful 

 variety in the coloration of the eggs, and quite as wide a 

 range of variation in their shapes and dimensions. Some are 

 large and long, others small and round; some almost green in 

 ground colour, others nearly white; spots are of all dimensions, 

 and, as the case may be, thickly or sparsely dotted on the 



