THE RUFOUS WARBLER. 385 



Cheironomidce). Also spiders (Epeira, etc.). Said to eat black- 

 berries in autumn (Blyth). 



DISTRIBUTION. England. Resident. Very local. Fluctuating in 

 numbers. Main nesting-haunts Hants, and Surrey, extending into 

 Isle of Wight, Dorset, Sussex, and possibly Berks, and Wilts. ; also 

 breeds small numbers in Cornwall and east Suffolk, probably Essex 

 and possibly Oxon . ; a pair or two recorded as breeding tolerably 

 regularly at one locality in Salop. Some evidence that a pair 

 bred Cannock Chase (Staffs.) about 1870, and formerly bred in 

 Kent, Middlesex, and Devon, but now extinct in these counties. 

 Recorded breeding in Somerset and Herts, requires confirmation. 

 Rare vagrant to other counties in southern half of England. 

 Recent records of stragglers are : Warwick, one Oct. 1914 ; Staffs., 

 one seen March 1915 ; Kent, one Oct. 1914. Ireland. Female 

 Tuskar Rock (Wexford), Oct. 27, 1912 (R. M. Barrington, Brit. 

 Birds, vi, p. 220). 



DISTRIBUTION. Abroad. Birds from Channel Islands and north- 

 west France have been separated but are doubtfully distinct from 

 British form. Replaced by closely-allied races in south-west Europe 

 and north-west Africa. 



Genus AGROBATES Swains. 



Agro>>ates Swainson, Nat. Hist. & Class B., n, p. 241 (1837 Monotype : 

 A. gala"totes). 



Differs from Sylvia by the tail, which consists of very broad 

 feathers and is strongly rounded ; tail is often spread out like a fan 

 and is cinnamon-red, the lateral rectrices with white tips and black 

 subterminal bars. 1st primary longer than primary-coverts, 2nd 

 equal to 6th or between 5th and 6th, more rarely between 6th and 

 7th, or between 4th and 5th. Tarsus scutellated in front. Sexes 

 alike, young like old. One species in several subspecies. Mediterra- 

 nean region and west Asia to Sudan. Nest open, eggs spotted. 



AGROBATES GALACTOTES* 



161. Agrobates galactotes galactotes (Temm.) THE RUFOUS 

 WARBLER. 



SYLVIA GALACTOTES Temminck, Man. d'Orn., ed. n, i, p. 182 (1820 



S. Spain). 



Aedon galactodes (Temminck), Yarrell, i, p. 355 ; Saunders, p. 73. 



*The generic name " Aedon " has erroneously been accepted for the 

 Rufous Warblers. This name was first introduced by Forster, 1817, for the 

 Nightingales ; Boie's use of the same name for the Rufous Warblers, in 

 1826, is therefore null and void. E.H. 



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