406 BRITISH BIRDS. 



On the continent the Whitethroat is an extremely common bird, breeding 

 throughout European Scandinavia and West Russia, as far north as lat. 65, 

 and in the Ural Mountains as far as lat. 60. Eastwards it is found in Asia 

 Minor, Palestine, Persia, Turkestan, and South-west Siberia. Its breeding- 

 range extends further to the south than that of any other common British 

 Warbler. In Asia Minor I found it one of the few common British birds 

 which were as abundant amongst the olives and the vines during the nesting- 

 season as they are in this country. Canon Tristram says that a few 

 remain during the winter in Palestine. Prof. Newton states that it winters 

 in some of the southern portions of Europe and in several of the islands of 

 the Mediterranean; but I have been unable to find any evidence that 

 this is the case. Irby never observed it near Gibraltar in winter; and 

 Kriiper says that in August and September it disappears entirely from 

 Greece and Asia Minor. It certainly winters in North-west Africa, and is 

 described as passing through North-east Africa on migration. In 

 the British Museum are examples collected by Sir A. Smith in South 

 Africa, and one obtained by C. J. Andersson in Daraara Land in January. 

 It has not been recorded from Madeira or the Azores ; but it has been 

 obtained in the Canaries. In the Altai and Tianshan Mountains it is repre- 

 sented by a form which appears to be subspecifically distinct, examples 

 from these localities being darker, greyer, and larger than our bird, 

 measuring more than 3 inches in length of wing, and laying considerably 

 larger eggs. Hume records an example, probably of this form, from North- 

 west India. I am unable to find any published description of the eastern 

 form of the Whitethroat, of which I have several specimens in my collec- 

 tion; but it maybe called Sylvia fusdpilea, inasmuch as Severtzow includes 

 it in a list of the birds of the Tianshan Mountains in the ' Journal fur 

 Ornithologie' (1875, p. 177), under the name of Sylvia cinerea fi.fuscipilea. 

 The next nearest ally to the Common Whitethroat is undoubtedly the 

 Lesser Whitethroat, especially the large variety to which Hume gave the 

 name of Sylvia althea. 



This pretty and familiar little Warbler, although it is so very common, 

 is by no means one of the earliest migrants to reach our shores in spring, 

 and usually arrives in England in the latter end of April, sometimes not 



' Planches Enlumine'es/ which Buffon and Montbeillard had neglected to do. Referring to 

 the work of the former gentleman, he finds that the " Fauvette rousse " is the Curruca 

 rufa of Brisson ; and turning over his ' Systema Naturae,' he finds that all the Fauvettes 

 are included by Linnaeus in his genus Motacilla : so he modestly names " La Fauvette 

 rousse " of Daubenton Motacilla rufa, instead of Curruca rufa. This is a glaring instance 

 of the mischief caused by the Stricklandian code. According to the rules which have 

 received the sanction of the British Association, the correct name of the Whitethroat is 

 Curruca sylvia. It must always be borne in mind that no argument, however plausible, 

 can make the British Association responsible for the name of Sylvia rufa for the White- 

 throat. 



