264 SYLVIADK. 



by my friend William Thompson, Esq. of Belfast. In a 

 direction north of London, this species is seen in Suffolk, 

 Norfolk, several parts of Yorkshire, in Cumberland, Nor- 

 thumberland, and Durham, where, according to Mr. Selby, 

 it frequents low shrubby underwood in moist situations. Mr. 

 Rennie, in a note to White's History of Selborne, mentions 

 having seen and heard this species near Edinburgh and in 

 Ayrshire. On the European Continent it frequents dur- 

 ing summer the central and southern parts, but is not very 

 numerous. It is rare in Holland, where, M. Temminck says, 

 it frequents the sides of rivers. In Italy it is observed on 

 its passage in the spring only. 



The beak is brown ; the base of the under mandible paler 

 in colour than the other parts : the irides hazel : the top of 

 the head, back, and wings, greenish brown ; the centres of 

 the feathers darker brown, producing a spotted appearance : 

 the feathers of the tail graduated and of a uniform brown, 

 the ends triangularly pointed. Chin, throat, breast, and 

 belly, pale brown, spotted with darker brown on the neck 

 and breast ; under tail-coverts pale brown, streaked along the 

 centre with darker brown ; legs, toes, and claws, pale brown. 



The whole length five inches and a half. The wings 

 short : from the carpal joint to the end of the longest pri- 

 mary, two inches and three-eighths ; the first feather very 

 short ; the second longer than the fifth, but not so long as 

 the fourth ; the third the longest in the wing. 



Females do not differ much from males on the upper parts 

 of the body ; but the under parts are destitute of the brown 

 spots on the breast, and are of a uniform pale brown or buff 

 colour, as described by Mr. Heysham of Carlisle from a spe- 

 cimen obtained in that neighbourhood. 



