396 SYLVIUS. 



noticed it in winter among the oases of the Sahara as far 

 south (lat. 32 N.) as he travelled. Mr. Drake met with it 

 in Morocco, where it is rare. In Spain Mr. Sauuders states 

 that he once recognized it in the marshes of the Guadalquivir, 

 and he has since received a specimen from the same locality. 

 It has occurred at Malta ; but it is very rare, if known at 

 all, in Sicily, and in Italy would not seem to be common. 

 Dr. Salvadori says that the museum at Cagliari possesses 

 a specimen, killed no doubt in Sardinia. In France the only 

 departments that it can certainly be said to affect are in the ex- 

 treme south. In the singular district known as the Camargue, 

 it has been observed in winter and is said, by MM. Jaubert 

 and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye, to be resident, but on the 

 Durance it seems to be only a bird of passage. 



Alexander von Nordmann has stated that in two suc- 

 cessive years during the latter half of April he took alive 

 several birds of this species which had entered through the 

 open windows the orangeries of the botanic garden at Odessa. 

 They climbed about the various plants with much agility, 

 flying only for short distances and frequently hiding them- 

 selves. In captivity they ate grubs and other small insects, 

 but hardly lived beyond three or four days. The tail, he adds, 

 is constantly kept spread, and when the bird is in progress 

 is raised, the fore part of the body being depressed. 



The bill is brown, with the lower mandible lighter : the 

 whole upper surface of the body, wings and tail, reddish- 

 brown, the last being indistinctly barred with narrow darker 

 bands ; chin almost white ; throat, breast and belly pale 

 reddish-brown ; sides of the body, flanks and lower tail- 

 coverts, which last are longer than the lateral tail-feathers, 

 rather darker, but lighter than above : legs, toes and claws, 

 pale brown. 



The whole length of the bird five inches and a half: the 

 wing, from the anterior bend, two inches and a half ; the 

 first primary is very short, the second and third are much 

 curved, and the second is the longest in the wing, the rest 

 gradually decreasing in length. The tail-feathers, twelve in 

 number, are very broad. 



