66 SYLVIIDiE. 



Sylvia curruca. Lessee Whitetheoat. 



Motacilla curruca Linnmts, Byst. Nat. 1758, p. 184 : 



Sweden. 

 Sylvia curruca (Linn.) ; SeeboJim, Oaf. Birds S. M. v. 1881, p. 16 ; 

 B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 12 ; Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 

 1899, p. 43. 

 Curruca, a late Latin word, perhaps from currere — to run. An English 

 writer, Eliot, identified the name with the Hedge-Sparrow ; hence Leach's 

 name for that bird, Curnica eliotse. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Summer Visitor. 

 Common in England except in the extreme north and south- 

 west, where it is local and rare. In Wales it is confined to 

 the eastern border counties, and in Scotland is known to 

 have nested in a £ew instances only. A Bird of Passage 

 from the Shetlands southwards when en route to and from 

 its summer haunts in northern Europe and its winter 

 retreats in Africa. There are four records of its occni-rence 

 in Ireland — at Tearaght I. and Innistrahull I. in October, 

 and at Rockabill Light, co. Dublin, in May and July. 



General Distribution. — The typical form of this species 

 breeds throughout Europe, from 65° N. latitude in Scandi- 

 navia and northern Eussia to the Mediterranean, but has not 

 been recorded as nesting in Spain ; it also apparently occurs 

 in the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Persia. It winters chiefly 

 in north-east Africa, Allied forms are found in parts of 

 north and central Asia. 



Sylvia simplex. Garden-Waeblee. 



Sylvia simplex Latliam, Gen. Synop. Supp. i. 1787, 

 p. 287 : England. 



Sylvia hortensis BecJist. ; Seelohm, Oat. Birds B. M. v. 1881, 

 p. 10 ; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 13 ; Saunders, Manual, 

 2nd ed. 1899, p. 49. 



Simj)leii!=plain. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Summer Visitor. 

 Widely distributed but scarce or local in the west, including 



