SYLVIA 83 



open scrub. Its nesting-habits, nest, and eggs are, so far as I 

 can ascertain, as yet unknown. 



Melizophilus rothschildi, Madarasz (Termesz Flisetek, 1901, 

 p. 351), from Palestine, of which I have seen the type, 

 appears to me to be very closely allied to, if separable from 

 this species. 



121. SARDINIAN WARBLER. 

 SYLVIA MELANOCEPHALA. 



Sylvia melanocephala (Gmel.), Syst. Nat. 1, p. 970 (1788) ; (Gould), 

 B. of E. ii. pi. 123 ; Dresser, ii. p. 401, pi. 62 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. 

 Brit. Mus. v. p. 29. 



Fawoette mdlanoce'phale, French ; Tutinegra dos vallados, 

 Porfcug. ; Palmerilla, Span. ; Occliio rosso, Ital. 



<J ad. (Turkey). Upper parts dark slate-grey, shading into jet black 

 on the nape, head, and ear-coverts ; quills blackish externally/narrowly, 

 and wing-coverts more broadly margined with slate-grey ; tail rounded, 

 black, the outer feather with the outer web and tip white, the second and 

 third also tipped with white ; under parts white, the breast, flanks, and 

 under wing-coverts washed with blue-grey ; bill brownish horn, yellowish 

 at the base of the lower mandible ; legs dark brown ; iris orange-red, the 

 edge of the eyelid vermilion. Culmen 0'52, wing 2'15, tail 2*35, tarsus 

 0'82 inch ; first primary 0'95 inch less than the second, the third longest, 

 the fourth nearly equal. The female has the upper parts brownish grey, 

 the head faintly tinged with slate-grey, the chin, throat, and centre of the 

 abdomen white, the rest of the under parts dull greyish brown. The young 

 bird scarcely differs from the female. 



Hcib. The Mediterranean area, from Portugal, Spain, and S. 

 France to Asia Minor and Palestine ; wintering in North Africa. 



Inhabits both the plains and hills in bushy and scrub-covered 

 localities, and is partial to cactus thickets and gardens. It 

 skulks and creeps about amongst the bushes, and is not easy to 

 be seen. It feeds chiefly on insects but also on fruit and the 

 seeds of the pepper- tree. Its usual call-note is loud and harsh, 

 resembling the winding of a clock, but it has another note, 

 resembling the syllables chuck, chuck, chuck, and its song is a 

 low rather melodious warble. When flying the tail is spread, 

 but is closed when it alights. Its nest is placed in a bush, 

 usually an evergreen, three or four feet from the ground, and is 

 constructed of fine bents, rootlets, and a little cottony sub- 

 stance, and lined with fine roots and a few hairs. The eggs 

 vary greatly, being either like those of a Whitethroat with 



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