The Barred Warbler. 77 



Family— TURDID.F. Subfamily— SYL VI IN^. 



The Barred Warbler. 



Sylvia nisoria, Bechst. 



RESPECTING the distribution of this rare species, Seebohm writes : — 

 " Besides South Sweden, it breeds in Germany east of the Rhine, 

 Transylvania, South Russia, Persia, and Turkestan, as far east as 

 Kashgar. It passes through South-eastern France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Asia 

 Minor, and North-east Africa, as it is said to pass through Nubia in spring and 

 autumn, but has not been recorded from the Transvaal. Its alleged occurrence 

 in China is probably an instance of mistaken identification." 



The same author, writing in 1883, observes that "The only claim of the 

 Barred Warbler to be considered a British bird rests upon a single example, shot 

 more than forty years ago near Cambridge — but apparently not brought under 

 the notice of Ornithologists until March, 1879, when Prof. Newton exhibited it 

 at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London, a record of which may be 

 found in the Proceedings for that year, page 219." 



The record referred to by Mr. Seebohm runs as follows : — " This specimen 

 was formerly the property of Mr. Germany, for many years the highly-respected 

 porter of Queen's College, who in the course of a long life formed a considerable 

 collection of birds, nearly all obtained by himself in and near Cambridge, and 

 also stuffed by himself. At his death, more than twenty years ago, it passed, 

 with many others of his specimens, into the possession of an old friend of his, 

 Mr. Elijah Tarrant, of whom Mr. John Robinson, an undergraduate of Trinity 

 Hall, bought it about a twelvemonth since. Up to this time no one seems to 

 have known what the bird was, though some ingenious person had hazarded the 

 suggestion that it was a variety of the Nightingale. Soon after it was seen by 

 Mr. Frederick Bond, F.Z.S., who at once recognized it as Sylvia nisoria, and was 

 good enough to advise its being shown to me." 



Prof. Newton then proceeds to point out good and sufficient reasons for 

 believing that this specimen actually was obtained in England. Apparently it 

 was shot either in spring or early summer : it was skulking in dense foliage and 

 was only shot with the greatest difficulty and then at so short a range that a 



