SYLVIA. 385 



Genus SYLVIA. 



The genus Sylvia was established by Scopoli in 1769, in his ' Annus I. 

 Historico-Naturalis/ p. 154, for the reception of the Warblers, which 

 \vere included by Linuseus in his comprehensive genus Motacilla. Scopoli 

 did not designate any type, and his genus has been reduced in its dimen- 

 sions by the removal of various groups of birds at different times by 

 different writers ; but as the Common Whitethroat is the Motacilla sylvia 

 of Linuseus, it becomes of necessity the type of the genus Sylvia, however 

 much restricted. 



The genus Sylvia contains about a score species of birds closely allied 

 to Phylloscopus, Acrocephalus , and Hypolais. The first primary is always 

 very small, and in many species it is so minute that it does not project 

 beyond the primary-coverts ; in none does it project beyond those feathers 

 more than *3 inch, and it is never so long as half the length of the second 

 primary. The tail is nearly even in two species ; in three species the out- 

 side feathers are about '1 inch shorter than the longest, in four species 

 about '2, in four species '25, in four species '35, and in one '4. The bill 

 is shorter and less depressed at the base than in Phylloscopus ; and the 

 rictal bristles are only slightly developed. The feet and tarsus are stout ; 

 and the latter is scutellatecl in front. The males of many of the species 

 have black heads, and most of them have white on the outside tail-feathers. 

 Most of the species have the tail shorter than the wing. In two the tail 

 is slightly longer than the wing, in another more decidedly longer, and in 

 two others the tail is still more lengthened. 



The centre of distribution of the genus is undoubtedly the basin of the 

 Mediterranean, and several species are resident on its shores. One is a 

 resident as far north as the south of England ; but most of the species are 

 migratory, breeding in Europe and wintering in Africa. Several extend 

 their range eastwards as far as Turkestan in the breeding-season, wintering 

 in India ; and one species, at least, has been found in China. Seventeen 

 species are European ; but only half of these have any claim to be con- 

 sidered British birds : one is a resident, four regular summer visitors, and 

 three accidental stragglers on migration to our islands. 



The true Warblers are almost exclusively insectivorous ; but in autumn 

 most, if not all, of the species occasionally feed on fruit. They are all 



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