WARBLERS. 1 1 1 



The male Blackcap is from five and three quarters to six inches 

 in length, and about eight and three quarters in the stretch of the 

 wings; it weighs nearly four drachms and a half. The bill is dark 

 horn-colour, paler beneath, the edges yellowish grey; the irides 

 dark hazel; the top of the head above the eyes jet black; the chin, 

 neck, and throat ash grey, and the breast of the same colour on the 

 upper part, and white tinged with yellowish grey on the lower. The 

 back, wings, and tail are greyish brown; the legs and toes lead-colour, 

 the latter tinged with green beneath; the claws brown. The female 

 resembles the male in size and colour, except that the head is reddish 

 brown on the crown, and the other parts of the body more tinged 

 with brown. The young, when fully fledged, resemble the adults, but 

 the hood is not so conspicuous. They are said to leave the nest 

 sooner than most other birds of the same family, and to roost for 

 some time afterwards on the branches with the parents. 



THE OEPHEAN WAKBLER 



(Sylvia orphea.) 



PLATE VII. FIGUBE III. 



THE "Zoologist" records that a specimen of this bird was shot on 

 the 6th. of July, 1848, in a small plantation near Wetherby, in the 

 West Riding of Yorkshire, and preserved by Mr. Graham, of York, 

 for W. M. E. Milner, the then M.P. for that city. It was a female, 

 and appeared to have been sitting the same summer. For some time 

 previously it had been noticed in the neighbourhood in company with 

 the male. 



In Italy the Orphean Warbler is abundant, especially in Lombardy, 

 Piedmont, and Tuscany. It is also common in the southern parts of 

 France, and has been noticed in Switzerland and the surrounding 

 districts, 



The male is a little over six inches in length, it has a strong and 

 thick bill, of a black colour, the upper mandible is very much grooved, 

 and the lower of a yellowish brown at the base; the head and neck 

 are dark brown, and the back of the same colour, but rather lighter; 

 the chin, throat, and breast are white, the latter having a delicate 

 tinge of rose-colour. The wings are nearly black, edged with greyish 



