88 MELIZOPHILUS 



Pitehou Provencal, French ; Colorin, Caganchina, Span. ; 

 Magnanina, Ital. 



$ ad. (England). Upper parts blackish grey, the crown washed with 

 slate and the back with brown ; quills and tail blackish brown, edge of the 

 wing white and outer tail-feathers edged and tipped with dull white ; 

 centre of abdomen white, the rest of the under parts chestnut-red ; under 

 wing and tail-coverts slate grey ; throat marked with silvery grey ; *sides 

 of head slate-grey ; bill blackish, base of lower mandible yellowish ; legs 

 reddish brown ; iris orange yellow, edge of eyelid bright yellow. Culmeii 

 0'5, wing 2'1, tail 2'7, tarsus 0*75 inch ; second quill equal to seventh ; tail 

 graduated. The female is dull and paler and has the under parts much 

 paler, and the young are darker above, and have the under parts dull grey 

 washed with yellowish buff, the legs yellowish, and the iris yellowish 

 brown. 



Hab t Resident in England as far north as Suffolk, resident 

 also in some parts of France, in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, 

 Sardinia, Palestine, and North Africa ; very rare in Greece, and 

 is said to occur also in Corsica. 



Frequents open ground covered with bushes, in England 

 furze-covered commons and is very shy and secretive in its 

 habits. Exceedingly active, it creeps about in the dense brush- 

 work like a mouse. Its flight is quick and jerky, and when 

 undisturbed it frequently perches on the topmost spray of a 

 bush. Its call note resembles the syllables pit-it-clwn or when 

 disturbed it utters a harsh cha, cha, and its song is somewhat 

 varied and hurried. The nest is placed in a bush near the 

 ground and is sometimes firmly and at others more loosely 

 constructed of grass-bents lined with wool or hair, and the eggs 

 4 to 6 in number are French white or greenish white marked 

 with hair brown or greenish brown, the markings in some being 

 collected chiefly at the larger end, and in others closely 

 distributed all over the surface. In size they average about 

 0*66 by 0'51 inch, and are usually deposited from late in April 

 to June. 



128. TRISTRAM'S WARBLER. 

 MELIZOPHILUS DESERTICOLA. 



Melizopliilus deserticola Tristram, Ibis. 1859, p. 58 ; Dresser, ix. p. 69, 

 pi. 649 ; (Seebohm) Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 32, pi. iii ; Koenig, 

 J. f. 0. 1896, Taf. 7, (eggs). 



<$ ad. (N. Africa). Crown neck and upper parts ashy plumbeous, the 

 rump washed with sandy buff ; wings and tail blackish, the former margined 



