108 AVES INSESSORES. [SYLVIA. 



DESCRIPT. All the upper parts reddish brown : tail rust-red : breast 

 and sides pale ash, passing into yellowish white; throat and belly whitish: 

 quills pale dusky, edged with reddish brown : bill brown : irides hazel : 

 feet yellowish brown. (Egg.) Uniform olive-brown: long. diam. ten 

 lines ; trans, diam. eight lines and a half. 



Common in the southern, midland, and eastern counties ; rare in the 

 western and northern. Has not been observed in Cornwall or in Devon- 

 shire, excepting on the eastern borders. First heard about the middle 

 or end of April: song continued till the first or second week in June. 

 Frequents woods, copses, and tall hedges. Nest placed on or near the 

 ground, sometimes suspended between the stems of herbaceous plants; of 

 a very deep, oval form ; composed principally of withered leaves, and lined 

 with fine grasses. Eggs four to six in number ; hatched towards the end 

 of May, or beginning of June. 



(5. CURRUCA, Bechst.) 



52. S. Atricapilla, Lath. (Black-cap Warbler.) Top 

 of the head and occiput deep black (male), or reddish 

 brown (female) ; rest of the upper plumage greenish ash. 



S. Atricapilla, Temm. Man. d'Orn. tom.i. p. 201. Black-cap, Mont. 

 Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 209. pi. 46. f. 5. Bew. Brit. Birds, 

 vol. i. p. 249. 



DIMENS. Entire length five inches eight lines: length of the bill 

 (from the forehead) four lines and a half, (from the gape) seven lines 

 and a half; of the tarsus nine lines and a half; of the tail two inches 

 four lines ; from the carpus to the end of the wing three inches : breadth, 

 wings extended, eight inches six lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) Forehead, crown, and occiput, deep black: rest 

 of the upper parts cinereous, with a slight tinge of olive-green : neck and 

 breast grayish ash ; belly and vent grayish white : bill and feet dusky. 

 (Female.) Crown of the head reddish brown ; rest of the plumage re- 

 sembling that of the male but rather darker. (Egg.) Pale greenish 

 white, mottled with light brown and ash-colour, with a few spots and 

 streaks of dark brown : long. diam. nine lines ; trans, diam. seven lines. 



A common and widely dispersed species, visiting this country about 

 the same time as the Nightingale. Song melodious, and rather powerful, 

 heard till the middle, or occasionally the end of July. Is partial to 

 orchards and gardens. Nest placed in a low bush ; loosely put together ; 

 constructed of bents and dried stalks, patched on the outside with threads 

 and cobwebs, and lined with fibrous roots and a few long hairs. Eggs 

 five in number, on which the male sits occasionally, as well as the female. 



53. S. hortensis, Lath. (Greater Pettychaps) Upper 

 parts grayish brown, tinged with olive : orbits white : tail 

 of one colour. 



S. hortensis, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. i. p. 206. Greater Pettychaps, 

 Mont. Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 211. pi. 46. f. 4. Passe- 

 rine Warbler, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 243. 



DIMENS. Entire length five inches ten lines : length of the bill (from 

 the forehead) five lines, (from the gape) eight lines ; of the tarsus ten 

 lines; of the tail two inches two lines; from the carpus to the end of the 



