SYLVIA 81 



Bjeloussyj-Kusnetschik, Russ. 



( ad. (Lenkoran). Crown, sides of the head, and ear-coverts dull black 

 gradually merging into the. grey on the upper parts which are slate-grey ; 

 wings and tail blackish, externally margined with slate-grey ; outer rectrix 

 with outer web and end white, the next tipped with white ; chin and a line 

 bordering the black on the sides of the head pure white ; throat and breast 

 chestnut-vinous ; flanks pale reddish ; rest of the under parts white ; beak 

 brown, lower mandible yellowish at the base ; legs brownish isabelline ; 

 iris clear chestnut-red, the bare skin round the eye bright yellow. Culmen 

 0'48, wing 2-35, tail 2'1, tarsus 0'75 inch. The female has the entire upper 

 parts plain brownish grey, the margins to the wings and tail also brownish 

 grey, and the under parts white tinged with pale ochreous. 



Hal). From the Caucasus through Transcaspia to Persia, 

 Turkestan, and northern Afghanistan, south to Fao on the 

 Persian Gulf. 



It inhabits the plains and the lower portions of the mountains, 

 and in its general habits does not differ from its allies, but 

 if anything flits more nimbly through the dense bush foliage 

 and when on the wing carries its tail very high. Its nest is 

 placed in a bush near the ground and is constructed of 

 tamarisk-twigs, bents, and vegetable down, and lined with finer 

 bents, vegetable filaments and occasionaly a few horsehairs ; 

 and the eggs, which are deposited in May or early in June, are 

 brilliant white, sometimes with a rose tinge finely dotted with 

 black, blackish grey, or dirty brown spots, the larger end so 

 closely spotted that the spots are confluent, and in some the 

 black spots and dots are wanting. In size they vary from 15 

 by 12 to 17 by 13 millimetres (0'59 by 047 to O67 by 0'51 

 inch). 



119. SUB ALPINE WARBLER. 

 SYLVIA SUBALPINA. 



Sylria subalpina, Bonelli, fide Temm. Man. d'Orn. i. p. 214 (1820) ; 

 Temm. PI. Col. 6, fig. 2, and 251, figs. 2, 3 ; Dresser, ii. p. 389, pi. 59 ; 

 Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 27 ; S. hucopogon, Meyer, Taschenb. 

 Deutsch. Vogelk., iii. p. 91 ; Gould, B. of. E. pi. 124. 



Babillarde subalpine, French ; Sterpazzolina, Ital ; Cagachin, 

 Span. 



(3 ad. (Greece). Upper parts plumbeous ash darker on the crown , 

 sides of the head and neck, wings and tail blackish brown, the former with 

 lighter margins ; outer tail-feather white washed with brown at the tip, 

 the next marked with white at the tip ; throat and upper breast rich 



G 



