THE ICTERINE WARBLER. 107 



Family TURDID&. Subfamily S YL VII N/E. 



THE ICTERINE WARBLER. 



ffypolais icterina, VlEILL. 



A NORTHERN and central European species, of which the first example was 

 killed near Dover, on June i5th, 1848 ; the second in co. Dublin, on June 

 8th, 1856; the third in Norfolk, on September nth, 1884. 



It is in the highest degree improbable that either of these species will fall 

 into the hands of any of the readers of the present work : should they have the 

 good fortune to meet with them I hope that, in the interests both of humanity 

 and science they will not shoot them ; but, if possible, capture and study them 

 living. It is a melancholy fact that almost every rare bird which accidentally 

 wanders to our shores is doomed to be shot, for the mere satisfaction of labelling 

 it as British : the same individual, if shot in the land of its birth, would probably 

 be valued at a shilling or less. 



We now come to the Reed- Warblers, whose suspended nests are often 

 taken and preserved as ornaments by mere admirers of the beautiful ; without one 

 thought of the little architects, or the faintest desire to know anything respecting 

 them. 



