SYLVIIN^. 



45 



THE ORPHEAN WARBLER. 



Svi.viA ('tRT'HicA, Temminck. 



According to the late Sir William M. E. Milner a female Orphean 

 AVarbler was shot, and her mate observed, on July 6th 1848, in a 

 small plantation near Wetherby, Yorkshire ; and from the state of 

 her plumage she was believed to have been incubating. Virtually, 

 however, the authority for this statement was Graham of York, a 

 bird-stuffer and purveyor of rarities ; but the bird is correctly named. 

 In June 1866, as recorded by Mr. J. E. Harting, a young bird 

 unable to fly was caught near HoUoway, in Middlesex, and having 

 been kept alive by Sergeant-major Hanley for nearly six months, it 

 was identified as an Orphean Warbler by the late Mr. E. Blyth. 

 Nests and eggs supi)osed to be those of this species have been 

 taken, but no other birds have as yet been authenticated. 



In France the Orphean Warbler breeds sparingly in the Erenne 

 district, beyond the Loire ; more frequently in Poitou ; and com- 

 monly in the southern provinces. In Portugal and Spain it is 

 abundant wherever the olive grows, and also among woods of coni- 

 fers. It visits Savoy in summer; is local on the mainland of Italy, 

 and very rare in the islands : passes annually up the valley of the 

 Rhone to the Yosges, the vicinity of Metz, and Luxembourg ; and 

 straggles to Belgium and to Heligoland; east of which it is unknown. 

 Rare in Tyrol, it occurs regularly in Dalmatia, Greece, Southern 



