SYLVIIN.E. 



41 





1^ H £ WHITE 1^ H R O'A T. 



SYtA'iA ciNEREA, Bcchsteiii. 



The Whitethroat arrives about the second week in April, remain- 

 ing until the beginning of September. Throughout P'ngland, Wales 

 and Ireland, it is the most generally distributed and plentiful of the 

 Warblers ; while in Scotland it is also common, except in the 

 northern counties, and even there it is extending its range, breeding 

 regularly as far as the Uornoch Firth. In the Outer Hebrides it 

 appears to be as yet unrecorded ; and it is only a rare visitor to the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands. 



The Whitethroat breeds up to about 65" N., in Scandinavia, and 

 southwards throughout Europe down to the Mediterranean ; but 

 sparingly in the basin of that sea, the majority of the birds found 

 there being migrants and winter-visitors. In Asia Minor it is only 

 found in summer, although said to be resident in Palestine. The 

 Canaries and Northern Africa are frequented in winter ; the migra- 

 tions of this Warbler extending down the west coast to Damara- 

 land. Eastward, it breeds in Turkestan and South-western Siberia, 

 wintering in Egypt, Abyssinia, and Arabia ; its place being taken in 

 the Altai and Tian-Shan Mountains, and North-western India, by 

 a larger, darker and greyer form, distinguished as S. fuscipilea. To 

 the north of the Caspian, the arid steppes beyond the Urai 



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