The Barred Warbler. 79 



but Gatke speaks of it as by far tbe rarest of those belonging to Germany which 

 are met with on that island; he says: — "The bird is never seen before the middle 

 of Ma}-, and then only on warm, calm days, and in solitary instances ; nor can it 

 be by any means reckoned as a regular annual summer visitant." 



The adult male in breeding plumage is smoky-gre}' above, the head, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers greyer ; the wings browner ; the wing-coverts, 

 innermost secondaries, the feathers on the rump, the upper tail-coverts and the 

 outer tail-feathers are margined and tipped with white, and have a blackish subter- 

 minal bar ; this is also sometimes the case with the forehead, lower back, and 

 scapulars ; the two central tail-feathers are indistinctly barred ; under surface 

 greyish white, barred with grey, the breast, flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts 

 browner, the' flanks somewhat heavily barred ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 mottled with grey and white, bill dark brown, the lower mandible paler at the 

 base, feet greyish brown, iris pale yellow. The female is very like the male, but 

 slightly browner and with fewer transverse bars. In the autumn the colouring 

 becomes browner and the bars on the feathers more pronounced. Young birds 

 are browner than adults and are hardly barred at all excepting on the under 

 tail-coverts. 



Although not unlike the Whitethroat in its habits and even in its song, the 

 Barred Warbler is far more shy and skulking, rarely leaving the dense cover of 

 briar and brushwood; though not frequently met with in forests, it haunts planta- 

 tions, copses, and tangled masses of thorn and blackberry, and from such retreats 

 its song may be heard : this, though harsh in some of its notes, is said to be 

 almost equal to that of the Garden Warbler and to include tones rich as those of 

 the Blackcap, 



The call-note is described as resembling the syllable chek; and the alarm note 

 r-r-r-r-r, a harsh, warning cry. 



The food of the Barred Warbler does not materially differ from that of most 

 other species of Sylvia; it consists largely of insects, with the addition of fruit 

 and berries as soon as these are ripe ; it sometimes captures winged insects in 

 the air after the manner of its congeners. 



The nest is usually placed in a thorn-bush in thick cover, and as a rule very 

 low down; but one instance is recorded of its being built among the topmost 

 twigs of a birch-tree at a height of twenty-five feet above the ground. It is a 

 firmly built and somewhat bulky structure, roughly formed externally of bents 

 and roots intermingled with plant stalks and compacted with spiders' cocoons or 

 vegetable down ; the inside is neatly formed, deep and beautifully rounded, the 

 lining consisting of fine rootlets, horsehairs, and sometimes cobwebs. 



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