406 BRITISH BIRDS. 
On the continent the Whitethroat is an extremely common bird, breeding 
throughout Europe, in Scandinavia and West Russia, as far north as lat. 65°, 
and in the Ural Mountains as far as lat. 60°. Eastwards it is found in Asia 
Minor, Palestine, Persia, Turkestan, and South-west Siberia. Its breeding- 
range extends further to the south than that of any other common British 
Warbler. In Asia Minor I found it one of the few common British birds 
which were as abundant amongst the olives and the vines during the nesting- 
season as they are in this country. Canon Tristram says that a few 
remain during the winter in Palestine. Prof. Newton states that it winters 
in some of the southern portions of Europe and in several of the islands of 
the Mediterranean; but I have been unable to find any evidence that 
this is the case. Irby never observed it near Gibraltar in winter; and 
Kriiper says that in August and September it disappears entirely from 
Greece and Asia Minor. It certainly winters in North-west Africa, and is 
described as passing through North-east Africa on migration. In 
the British Museum are examples collected by Sir A. Smith in South 
Africa, and one obtained by C. J. Andersson in Damara Land in January. 
It has not been recorded from Madeira or the Azores; but it has been 
obtained in the Canaries. In the Altai and Tianshan Mountains it is repre- 
sented by a form which appears to be subspecifically distinct, examples 
from these localities being darker, greyer, and larger than our bird, 
measuring more than 3 inches in length of wing, and laying considerably 
larger eggs. Hume records an example, probably of this form, from North- 
west India. I am unable to find any published description of the eastern 
form of the Whitethroat, of which I have several specimens in my collec- 
tion; butit may be called Sylvia fuscipilea, inasmuch as Severtzow includes 
it in a list of the birds of the Tianshan Mountains in the ‘Journal fiir 
Ornithologie’ (1875, p.177), under the name of Sylvia cinerea B. fuscipilea. 
The next nearest ally to the Common Whitethroat is undoubtedly the 
Lesser Whitethroat, especially the large variety to which Hume gave the 
name of Sylvia althea. 
This pretty and familiar little Warbler, although it is so very common, 
is by no means one of the earliest migrants to reach our shores in spring, 
and usually arrives in England in the latter end of April, sometimes not 
‘ Planches Enluminées,’ which Buffon and Montbeillard had neglected to do. Referring to 
the work of the former gentleman, he finds that the “Fauvette rousse” is the Curruca 
rufa of Brisson ; and turning over his ‘Systema Nature,’ he finds that all the Fauvettes 
are included by Linneus in his genus Motacilla: so he modestly names “ La Fauvette 
rousse ” of Daubenton Motacilla rufa, instead of Curruca rufa, This is a glaring instance 
of the mischief caused by the Stricklandian code, According to the rules which have 
received the sanction of the British Association, the correct name of the Whitethroat is 
Curruca sylvia. It must always be borne in mind that no argument, however plausible, 
a make the British Association responsible for the name of Sylvia rufa for the White- 
throat. ] 
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