380 INSECTI VOILE. 



The garden warbler is larger than the black-cap, and longer 

 in proportion in the wings: the length is more than six 

 inches, the breadth more than ten, and the weight about five 

 eighths of an ounce. It is also a more extensive migrant, 

 ranging as far as the north of Africa. In Britain, it arrives 

 about the same time with the black-cap, or perhaps a little 

 later; and as it frequents richer and warmer places, it is not 

 so generally distributed. As is the case with all the sylvan 

 warblers, it is more common in the south and south-east of 

 England, than in any other part of Britain, and it is certainly 

 not plentiful so far to the north as the black-cap; but from 

 its power of flight, it is probable that it ranges much farther 

 in that direction than has been stated by authors. I have 

 heard reports of it near Balgonie, on the Leven, in Fife, and 

 in the romantic dell between the castle of Airlie and Ruth- 

 ven, in Strathmore ; and, as these are both warm places, and 

 abound in brakes and brushwood, it is not unlikely to be 

 true, though I cannot certify the fact on my own observa- 

 tion. In Lothian it has been both heard and seen upon each 

 of the rivers Esk, which are confluent in Dalkeith park ; on 

 the Northern one, between Lasswade and Roslin, and on 

 the Southern at ISTewbattle and Dalhousie; nor is there much 

 doubt that, if looked for, it would be found in many of the 

 warmer wooded districts of the lowlands. When summer 

 migrants once cross the border, indeed when they get regu- 

 larly into Durham and Northumberland, there is much to 

 entice and little to impede them till they reach the Gram- 

 pians. It is true that the plantations are more of fir and 

 less of deciduous trees, but the number of the latter is on the 

 increase. 



The hideling manners of the bird may prevent it from 

 being known, even where its song is heard. It is a hedge, 

 copse, and thicket bird, and does not, like the black-cap, sing 

 from a high perch, but from the close cover; and as that 



