14 THE WARBLERS 



which is found in the British Isles, in that part of the Continent which lies west 

 of Austria and E. Germany, and also in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, possibly in 

 Algeria. In the British Isles it is a summer visitor to most of the wooded 

 districts of England and Wales, but is practically absent from the Pennine range 

 and the Cambrian mountains, and is scarce in Scotland, though it occurs both on 

 the east and west sides as far as the areas of Forth and Clyde, but is only a rare 

 straggler further north. It is found in the Isle of Man, and is a common summer 

 visitor to the wooded parts of Ireland and locally plentiful there. In the southern 

 parts of its range it is sedentary, but in western and mid-Europe it is a regular 

 migrant, wintering in the Iberian peninsula, North-west Africa and Senegambia. 

 Probably those which winter in East Africa belong to the Scandinavian form. 

 [F. c. K. J.] 



3. Migration. Although a few individuals of this species pass the winter 

 every year in the extreme south-west of England, occasionally also in Ireland and 

 the Midlands (Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, p. 20 ; O. V. Aplin, B. of Oxfordshire, 

 p. 68), it is generally considered as only a summer visitor. The first migrants, 

 coming from South Europe and North Africa, are usually noted in the south-west 

 of England about the middle of March, but the first great irruption does not take 

 place till the last few days of the month. During the first half of April it arrives 

 hi large numbers and gradually spreads northwards, especially on the western side 

 of England. In Scotland it is not met with in any numbers until the last few 

 days of April, and its arrival in the north-east of England is often considerably 

 later than in the milder parts of the country. By the end of April the breeding 

 birds of these islands have all arrived, but during the earlier part of May many 

 emigrate from our eastern shores on their way to breed on the Continent. The 

 return migration takes place hi a more leisurely manner, the birds leaving the 

 country hi small numbers during August and September, the greatest rush usually 

 occurring during the later half of the last-named month. In Scotland it is not 

 infrequently met with at a much later date ; these birds are most probably not 

 native bred, but the continental birds of passage, f J. L. B.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Nesting place : normally at some little distance from the 

 ground, but occasionally resting on it, though much controversy has taken place 

 with regard to the point. 1 It is generally placed among bracken, brambles, creepers, 

 accumulations of dead leaves in evergreen bushes or rank vegetation, and less 



1 See Zoologist, 1878, pp. 254, 350 ; 1891, p. 470 ; 1892, pp. Ill, 150 ; the Ornithologist, pp. 144, 155, 

 87 ; and also The Field, 1892, Ixxix. 432 ; 1894, Ixxxiii. 735 ; Ixxxiv. 44, 46, 128, 166, 197. 



