SYLVIA SUBALPINA 81 



The breeding season of this Warbler may be said to extend from 

 the middle of April to the middle of June, and second broods are not 

 uncommon. A low bush is usually selected as a site for the nest, 

 which is con:posed of small root fibres and fine dry p;rasses, sometimes 

 lined with a little horse-hair or vegetable down. The usual comple- 

 ment of eggs is four ; the ground colour varies from white slightly 

 tinged with green, to white slightly tinged with rose, and is spotted 

 and freckled all o'ver, but prmcipally at the larger end, with violet and 

 brown markings. Measurements 17 x 13 mm. I remember once 

 finding a nest of this species, containing four young birds, in the 

 garden of a hotel at Taormina, much frequented by visitors. The old 

 birds were unremitting in their attentions to their young brood, and 

 apparently did not greatly object to the presence of the numerous hotel 

 guests, although their nest was close to a path along which people 

 constantly passed. 



As above mentioned, this species varies somewhat in the coloration 

 of its plumage, and also slightly in size, and should perhaps be 

 subdivided into two, if not three, forms, one of these being referable 

 to Heckel's Sylvia leucojiogon (Meyer, Taschenbuch, 1882, p. 91). 

 As, however, there seems to be a good deal of variation in the plumage 

 of this bird dependent on season and age, a large amount of material, 

 and a most careful study of the same, are necessary before one can 

 come to any satisfactory settlement of the question, pending which 

 I prefer to retain the Tunisian Subalpine Warbler under Bonelli's 

 name. 



I may here observe that Bonelli's type of S. suhalpina is unfortu- 

 nately not available for comparison. I had quite expected to find it 

 in the Turin Zoological Museum, and indeed it once existed there, as 

 Count Salvadori and I ascertained by reference to the old registers of 

 the Museum. There it is recorded that the type was a skin obtained 

 in Piedmont, but being in poor condition it was not preserved, and 

 another specimen from Sardinia was substituted in its place. The 

 Sardinian skin, however, is no longer to be found either, and Count 

 Salvadori had made a note to that effect when going over the Museum 

 registers some years previously. 



