BARRED WARBLER. 387 



SYLVIA NISORIA. 

 BARRED WARBLER. 



(Plate 10.) 



Motacilla nisoria, Bechst. Natury. DeiitscM. iv. p. 580, pi. xvii. (1795) ; et auctorum 

 plurimorum— ( 7-^Mj7fo<), (Nuinnann), {Gray), (Bonaparte), {Sehlegel), {Dresser), 



Sylvia nisoria (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 172 (1802). 



CuiTuca nisoria (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 4-34 (1816). 



Adophoneus nisorius (Bechst.), lump, Xatiirl. Syst. p. 28 (1829) 



Nisoria undata (Brehm), Bonap. Coinp. List B. Enr. and N. Amer. p. 15 (1838). 



Philacantha nisoria (Bechst.), Stvinh. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. .joS. 



The only claim of the Barred Warbler to be considered a British bird 

 rests upon a single example, shot more than forty years ago near Cam- 

 bridge — ^but apparently not brought under the notice of ornithologists 

 until March 1879, when Prof. Newton exhibited it at a meeting of the 

 Zoological Society of London, a record of which may be found in the 

 ' Proceedings •" for that year, page 219. It was shot by a porter of Queen's 

 College of the name of Germany, in a garden not far from the College. 

 There does not seem to be any doubt as to the genuineness of the speci- 

 men, which I had the pleasure of seeing ; and the circumstances described 

 in connexion with its capture agree with what we know of the habits of the 

 bird. It is somewhat remarkable that a migratory bird breeding in South 

 Sweden has not more often strayed accidentally to our islands. Such a 

 well-marked species could scarcely be confounded with any other bird ; 

 but from its skulking habits it may have been passed by unnoticed. 



Besides South Sweden, it breeds in Germany east of the Rhine, Trau- 

 sylvania. South Russia, Persia, and Turkestan, as far east as Kashgar. 

 It passes through South-eastern France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Asia 

 Minor, and North-east Africa, on migration, and probably winters some- 

 where in Central Africa, as it is said to pass through Nubia in spring and 

 autumn, but has not been recorded from the Transvaal. Its alleged 

 occurrence in China is probably an instance of mistaken identification. 



As is the case with most continental birds whose range does not extend 

 to the British islands, it arrives late at its breeding-quarters, and leaves 

 them early. The period of the spring migration of birds in Germany lasts 

 about eight weeks, from towards the end of March to the middle of 

 May ; but more than half the summer migrants have arrived before the 

 Barred Warbler is seen. Its notes are seldom heard before the end of 

 April. Although it is very shy, seldom venturing into gardens near 



2c2 



