HEDGE-SPARROW. 497 



ACCENTOR MODULARIS. 

 HEDGE-SPARROW. 



(Plate 12.) 



CuiTuca sepiaria, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 394 (17G0). 



Motacilla modularis, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 329 (1766J ; et auctorum pliirimorum 

 — (Bonaparte), {Teininiiic/c), (Degland), (Gerbe), {Kaumann), {Newton), (Dres- 

 ser), &o. 



Sylvia modulai-is (Liim.), Lath. Lid. Orn. ii. p. 511 (1790). 



Prunella modularis (Linn.), J^ieiU. An. Noitv. Orn. p. 43 (1816). 



Accentor modularis (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 196 (1816). 



Curruca eliotse, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mainm. ^'C. Brit. Mux. p. 24 (1817). 



Tharrhaleus modularis (Linn.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. pp. 137, 192 (1829). 



The Hedge-Accentorj or Hedge-Sparrow, is another of those birds 

 which, from its trustful habits, is familiar to all. It is one of the most 

 widely distributed of our native birds, being found throughout the British 

 Islands except in the barest and most barren situations. It is found on all 

 the Hebrides, except a few of the most desolate islands ; in the Orkneys it 

 is of only accidental occurrence, chiefly in winter ; and in the Shetlands but 

 one specimen has with certainty been seen — in October. In the Channel 

 Islands the bird is, according to jMr . Cecil Smith, as common as in England, 

 and resident. Dresser's statement that the Hedge-Sparrow was obtained 

 in Persia is a mistake. There is no record of its occurrence east of the 

 Ural Mountains and the Caucasus. None of the various species of Accentor 

 found in Persia, Turkestan, the Himalayas, Siberia, and Japan are very 

 nearly allied to our bird. The Persian bird appears to be quite distinct 

 from the Japan bird ; and the examples of the latter figured by Gould in 

 his ' Birds of Asia,' and now in the British Museum, seem quite distinct 

 from the A. rubidus of Temminck and Schlegel figured in the ' Fauna 

 Japonica." Neither of these two species has yet been named by ornitho- 

 logists. 



The Hedge- Sparrow breeds throughout Europe, except in the extreme 

 north. In Scandinavia its range extends as far as the limit of forest- 

 growth (about lat. 70°). In West Russia a few wander as far as Archangel 

 (about lat. 6-1°), and in the Ural Mountains it occurs as far north as lat. 60°. 

 Towards the northern limit of its range it is a summer bird of passage, 

 onlv remaining during the winter in rare instances. In South Europe it 

 is principally a winter visitant ; bat in Spain, Italy, Asia Minor, Palestine, 

 and the Caucasus a few retire to the mountains to breed. In North Africa 

 it is only known as an occasional straggler in winter. As a rule, the 



VOL. I. 2k 



