SYLVIA 79 



116. DESERT WARBLER. 

 SYLVIA NANA. 



Sylvia nana (Hempr. and Ehr.), Symb. Phys. Aves fol. c.c. (1829); 

 Gould, B. of Asia, iv. pi. 50 ; Dresser, ix. p. 63, pi. 648 ; Seebohm, 

 Cat, B. Br. M. p. 26 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 396 ; 

 & aralensis, Eversm. Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxiii. pt. 2, p. 565, pi. 

 viii. fig. 1 ; Prjev. Mongol, i. Strana Tangnt., tab. xx. fig. 5, (egg)i. ; 

 deserti, Loche, Rev. and Mag. Zool. 1858. p. 394, pi. xi. fig.' 1 ; 

 S. delicatula, Hartl., Ibis, 1859, p. 340, pi. x. fig. 1 ; S. dorm, 

 Defilippi Viagg. Pers. p. 248 ; S. chrysophthalmus, Hengl. Orn. N. 

 0. Afr. i. p. 306. 



Bajalysclinitscluk, Russ. 



$ ad. (Transcaspia). Upper parts greyish isabelline, the lower rump 

 and upper tail coverts washed with rufous ; quills margined with rufous 

 buff ; median rectrices rufous buff, outer rectrix white, remainder dark 

 brown margined with rufous buff ; under parts white, flanks washed with 

 buff ; bill pale horn ; legs brownish isabelline ; iris pale yellow. Culmen. 

 0'4, wing 2'5, tail T95, tarsus 0'75 inch. The female resembles the male. 

 In the autumn the upper parts are more rufous in tinge, and the young 

 are more rufous than the adult. 



Hob. Northern Africa as far west as Algeria ; Arabia, Persia, 

 Transcaspia, Turkestan, N.W. India, east to Alaschan in 

 China; a straggler to European Russia, and has been once 

 recorded from Italy. 



Frequents sandy sterile localities, where there are bushes, 

 and feeds almost entirely on small insects which it picks up 

 from the ground. It is shy and restless and is said to some- 

 what resemble Drymosca in its general habits. Its song is rich 

 and pleasant, and is somewhat like that of the Whitethroat. 

 Its nest resembles that of the Reed- Warbler, is elongate, purse- 

 shaped, open, constructed of grass-bents and blades and leaves, 

 and carefully lined with wool, and the eggs are greenish white 

 spotted and marked with olive-green surface spots, and pale 

 lilac underlying shell-markings, the markings being more 

 numerous at the larger end. In size they measure 1*4 by 

 1/1 cm. Algerian examples are as a rule more rufous in tone 

 of colour than those from Asia, and Dr. Koenig considers the 

 Algerian bird to be specifically separable, a view with which 

 however I do not agree. 



