46 ORPHEAN WARBLER. 
it occurs regularly in Dalmatia, Greece, Southern Russia, Turkey, 
Asia Minor and Palestine; while a form known as S. jerdoni, with 
a somewhat larger bill and brighter colouration, is found in Persia, 
Turkestan and Northern India. South of the Mediterranean the 
Orphean Warbler breeds in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia ; visiting. 
Egypt, and pushing its winter migrations as far south as Nubia. 
None remain in Europe during the winter. 
The nest, a tolerably compact structure of dry grass, lined with 
finer bents, thistledown and the down of the cotton-grass, is 
generally placed in bushes, such as tamarisks, or in young cork- 
trees, about twelve feet from the ground. The eggs, usually five, 
are greyish-white, blotched and slightly scrolled with various shades 
of brown; much resembling those of the Lesser Whitethroat, but 
as large as those of the Garden-Warbler : measurements °78 by ‘6 in. 
Nests which I obtained near Malaga often contained one, and 
sometimes two eggs differing from the others in their abnormal size, 
and microscopic examination of the texture of their shell by Mr. 
Sorby, F.R.S., subsequently proved these to be eggs of the Cuckoo. 
Incubation begins late in April, and while the female is sitting the 
cock utters his song, louder and harsher than that of the Blackcap, 
from some neighbouring branch. The food consists principally of 
insects, varied by fruit in the season. 
Adult male: head to below the eyes black, paler on the nape; 
upper parts dark brownish grey, with paler margins and tips to the 
secondaries ; the outside pair of tail-feathers white on the outer 
half ; the second and third pairs spotted with white at the tips ; the 
remainder of all the feathers blackish-brown ; throat white ; breast 
and flanks buffish-white ; under-tail coverts buff; bill nearly black, 
paler at the base ; legs and feet dark brown ; iris straw-yellow. The 
female differs merely in having less contrasted and browner tints. 
The above descriptions are taken from a pair of birds obtained, with 
their nest, at Malaga on May 23rd, 1869. Young birds resemble 
the female. Length 6 in.; wing, to the tips of the 3rd-gth and 
longest primaries 3°1 in. The white on the outer tail-feathers will 
always serve as a distinction between this species and the Blackcap. 
Mr. W. D’Urban has stated that on April 16th, 1890, he watched 
in his garden at Exmouth a Warbler smaller than a Blackcap (which 
was close by), with jet black head and pure white breast and under- 
parts. The description suits Sy/via melanocephala, a species which 
is common in the South of France and the Peninsula, and which 
might easily be swept up with the tide of migration. 
