54 TTJRDIDJ3. 



the tail, shorter than the wing, easily distinguishes them from 

 that bird. 



Male. Above slaty grey ; chin, throat, and breast chestnut; narrow white 

 line from base of bill to shoulder. 



Female. Above dull brown; buffy white where chestnut in the male. 

 Eyelids red in both sexes. Length 5 inches. 



31. Sylvia melanocephala (Gmelin). The Black - headed 

 Warbler. 



Moorish. Shorrir (Favier}. Spanish. Palmera. 



" This Warbler is resident and very abundant near Tangier ; 

 some migrate, crossing the Straits during February and March, 

 returning in September. They are to be seen everywhere, 

 nesting in small thorny bushes. The nest is not well built, and 

 is made of strips of plants and blades of grass, without roots ; 

 rarely there is a little wool. It is lined with the down of some 

 cotton-like plant, fine fibres of roots, and a few horse-hairs." 

 They lay from April to July." Favier. 



The Black-headed Warbler, equally common around Gibraltar, 

 is found in all scrub, gardens, and in the midst of woods, scolding 

 with a chattering noise much like that of our common Wren. 

 They might well be named the Gibraltar Warbler, being almost 

 the only species which is a regular resident on the Rock. In 

 habits they much resemble the Blackcap, but are more restless 

 and obtrusive, and consequently more conspicuous ; the contrast 

 between the jet-black head of the adult male and the white 

 throat also renders them more liable to be noticed. There were 

 in different years several nests in my garden, which were carefully 

 preserved ; but what with cats and inquisitive human beings, 

 they seldom succeeded in rearing their young. The earliest egg 

 laid was on the 12th of March ; this was built in a small rose- 

 bush, and was spoiled by a gale of wind, which blew all the eggs 

 out of it, being the only one I ever saw in what could be called 

 an open bush. All the others were placed in thick bushes, 

 generally box, about two to four feet from the ground, and 



