40 
SPECTACI.KD WARBLER. 
the latter by its smaller size, by the lunettes over the 
eyes, and by the general greater distinctness and purity 
of the colours. I am however at a perfect loss to 
imagine upon what grounds it can be separated from 
the “Whitethroats,” and formed into a distinct genus. 
The Spectacled A\^arblcr builds in March, in low 
bushes, about a foot from the ground. The nest is in 
the shape of a blunt cone, and tolerably thick and 
compact. It is formed of dry grass, stems, coarse plant 
stalks, much down of seeds, and sometimes spiders’ webs, 
and is lined with small roots and human as well as 
horse-hair, (Miihle.) The outside as well as the inside 
is constructed with especial care. The delicate eggs are 
four, rarely five in number ; ground colour pale greenish 
grey, with fine spots, greyish and greenish grey, some- 
times thicker towards the base. 
In the adult male in breeding season, the vertex and 
cheeks are ash grey; the whole upper part of the body 
greyish russet, more or less marked; throat white; the 
rest of the inferior parts red, tinged with grey, clearer 
on the belly; lores and eyebrows black; cheeks white; 
wings blackish, with the coverts broadly fringed with 
lively red; tail dark brown, with the two internal 
barbs of the external quills white; a small and some- 
times a large spot of the same colour on the extremity 
of the last, and a small spot on the third; beak, 
yellow on the borders and the basal half below, the 
rest blackish; feet yellowish; iris brown. 
The male in autumn has the head of a less pure ash- 
colour ; neck and mantle grey, with the feathers bordered 
with russet; throat white; lower part of neck bluish ash; 
crop and flanks red; middle of stomach whitish. 
The adult female has the top of the head dark ash 
grey, while the black “spectacle” mark over the eyes 
