146 SYLVIIN/E. MELIZOPILUS. 



MufFet. Muftie. Charlie-muftis. Beardie. Whattie. Whishey. 

 Blethering Tarn. 



Sylvia cinerea, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. 514. Sylvia cinerea, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 207. Sylvia cinerea, White-throated 

 Warbler, or White-throat, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 350. 



81. SYLVIA GARRULA. WHITE-BREASTED WARBLER. 



Male with the feet bluish-grey ; the upper parts brownish- 

 grey, the head dark ash-grey, the wings and tail dusky, the 

 secondaries edged with light grey, the lateral tail-feathers 

 nearly white ; lower parts white, the breast tinged with red, 

 the sides with grey. Young like the female. 



Male, 51 8, 2&, &, jf, T y , ft. 



Although Sylvia Iiortensis, cinerea, and garrula, are often 

 confounded by students, they may very readily be distinguished 

 by attending to the specific characters given above. The pre- 

 sent species, which arrives and departs about the same periods 

 as the rest, is very uncommon in the south of Scotland, and 

 less common than S. cinerea in any part of England. It feeds 

 on insects, larvae, and small fruits ; frequents gardens, hedges, 

 and thickets ; is extremely active and shy ; and has a short, 

 not unpleasant warble. The nest, which is placed among 

 briars, or among the herbage, is composed of steins and leaves 

 of slender grasses, rather loosely interwoven, with a lining of 

 fine straws, fibrous roots, and hair. The eggs, usually five, 

 are white or greyish-white, spotted and patched with light 

 grey and brown ; their length eight-twelfths, their breadth six- 

 twelfths. 



Lesser White-throat. Babillard. Babbling Warbler. 



Motacilla garrula, Linn. Fauna Suec. 254. Sylvia Curruca, 

 Temm. Man, d'Ornith. i. 209. Sylvia garrula, W^hite-breasted 

 Warbler, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 367. 



GENUS XLV. MELIZOPHILUS. FURZELING. 



The only species of which this genus is composed differs 

 little from the Sylvias in form and habits, but has the tail 

 remarkably elongated. 



Bill short, slender, broader than high at the base, com- 

 pressed toward the end ; upper mandible with its dorsal line 

 convex toward the tip, which is acute, the notches very small ; 

 lower mandible with the edges a little inflected, the tip acute. 



