410 BRITISH BIRDS. 



SYLVIA CURRUCA. 



LESSER WHITETHROAT. 



(Plate 10.) 



Ficedula ciirmca gaiTula, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 384 (1760). 



Motacilla cuiTLica, Linn. Si/sf. Xat. i. p. .329 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



{Latham), {Bechstein), (Temmmck),{Kaiiman?j), {Bonaparte), {Schkgel), {Oray), 



(Newton), (Dresser), ^-c. 

 ? Motacilla dumetorum, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 334 (1766). 

 Syh-ia curruca {Linn.), Scop. Ann. L. Hist. Nat. p. 155 (1769). 

 Sylvia sylviella, Lath. Gen. S'l/n. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787). 

 ? Sylvia dumetornm {Lin».'), Lath. lad. Orn. ii. p. 522 (1790). 

 Motacilla sylviella (Lath.), Turton, Linn. Oen. Syst. Nat. i. p. 588 (1806). 

 Silvia gan-iila, Bechst. Natury. Deutschl. 2nd ed. ii. p. 540 (1807). 

 CuiTuca g-arrida {Beehst), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 157 (ISKi). 

 CuiTuca sylviella {Lath.), Fleminy, Brit. An. p. 71 (1828). 

 Curruca dumetorum (Li/in.), Brehm, Voy. BeutscM. p. 422 (1831). 

 Curruca molaria, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 422 (1831). 

 Ficedula garrula {Bech^t),B1ijth, Bennie's Field Nat. i. p. 352 (1833). 



The Lesser Wliitethroat was first made known to British ornithologists 

 by Latham^ from specimens obtained near Bulstrode; in Buckinghamshirej 

 by the Rev. ]\Ir. Lightfoot^ who sent them to that ornithologist, who 

 described them in the Supplement to his ' General Synopsisj' and gave a 

 figure of the bird, its nest and eggs (i. p. 185, pi. cxiii.). It is probable, 

 however, that the bird had already been noticed in this country by Gilbert 

 White, who accurately describes it in a letter to his friend Mr. Barrington. 

 Among continental ornithologists this bird appears to have been known to 

 Linnaeus, Brisson, Bufl^on, and Scopoli. In this country the bird is a 

 somewhat local one, and becomes very ]'are in the west of England and in 

 Wales. Montagu states that in Lincolnshire, in his time, the bird was 

 more abundant than in any other pai't of England; but now it appears to 

 be only local there. In the Channel Islands it is only found in Guernsey, 

 and is by no means numerous. In Scotland the Lesser Whitethroat is also 

 very local in its distribution. According to Gray it is sparingly met with 

 in parts of Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and Dumbarton, and occurs as far 

 north as the middle of Argylcsliire. It is equally local on the east 

 coast. Three or four specimens have been observed on the Shetlands ; but 

 the bird appears to be absent from the rest of the Scotch islands never 

 having been met with in the Hebrides. In Ireland, although its cono-ener 

 the Common AVhitethroat is so widely distributed, there is no reliable 

 evidence of the occurrence of the present species. 



