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it for hours, I could not get near it, though I several times saw it clearly enough. At last I fired 

 at it, though at a great distance, but did not procure it. From its not quitting the locality, I 

 was sure that it remained there during the summer to breed; and I also saw here the bird I 

 observed at the foot of the mountain, which I thought to be the female of the lovely songster. 

 On the 10th of May I was again in the same locality, and saw the songster several times ; but not 

 so often as before, as it sang but little ; and on my return I heard the clear note of a bird, but as 

 it was so far off I was not sure if it was a Blackbird. On the 13th of May Mr. Schrader 

 accompanied me, in order that we might together try and secure this mysterious bird. We went 

 past the so-called Homer's Grotto to a spring which watered a small Turkish garden where 

 three days previously I thought I heard the note of the long-sought-for bird. We had scarcely 

 reached the bushes when we heard the song of the bird, and soon caught sight of it. Moving 

 carefully on, we ascertained that two males were singing in competition. We followed them for 

 hours, and each of us had fired a shot without success, when at last I crept up behind a bush 

 close enough to bring one down, and we could at last examine the bird closely. . . . We pro- 

 ceeded onward delighted at our success ; and under the shade of an oak Mr. Schrader skinned 

 this bird, a female Hirundo rufula, and a male Sylvia galactodes, as they would have spoiled 

 from the great heat had we taken them back to Burnova. I now started alone after the other 

 male bird, but heard its note but seldom, as the pairing-time was over, and it doubtless had built 

 its nest. However, I met with no success, and only found a nest of S. passerina containing five 

 eggs. In the afternoon we returned by the same route, past the spring : here Mr. Schrader shot 

 a second male, which was following a dull-coloured female ; and a third male fell to a shot from 

 me a few minutes later. Although I visited the same place some weeks afterwards, I saw neither 

 old nor young birds ; but late in August Mr. Schrader saw a male, probably about migrating, at 

 Burnova. Of these three males we had procured, I sent one to the English Consul, Merlin, at 

 Athens, and two to my friend Seidensacher, one of which had to be sent to the Vienna Museum 

 for examination and to be named. Mr. von Pelzeln was kind enough to examine it ; and on the 

 8th of October, 1863, he described it as Saxicola albigularis, and stated that in form it agreed 

 with Saxicola melanura, Hupp., but that the bill had no notch at the tip, and therefore resem- 

 bled that of the genus Thamnobia. As, however, the tooth often varies in different individuals 

 of the same species of Saxicola, and in an immature bird of Saxicola melanura in the Berlin 

 Museum it is entirely wanting, and the wing and tarsus are similar to those of Saxicola, Mr. 

 von Pelzeln considers that the species here in question should be referred to Saxicola. An 

 ornithologist who has never seen the bird in a state of nature may be right, when he examines 

 a skin of it, in describing it as a Chat ; but I, on the other hand, should call it a Warbler, as I 

 have done, and leave it to the cabinet-naturalists to decide where it belongs. In its habits it 

 comes nearest to Sylvia (Aedon) galactodes, but belongs to another group, as the difference 

 between the sexes is so great. Nor can I say if Thamnobia is its proper generic term, as I have 

 no books at hand for reference. Its sweet note is certainly different from a Chat's call ; and its 

 mode of nidification is the same as that of a White-throat. . . ." 



Canon Tristram met with it in Palestine, and writes (Ibis, 1867, p. 89) respecting it as 

 follows : — " A link also between Ruticilla and Saxicola is to be found in Bessornis albigularis 

 (pi. 1). This bird was first described by Herr von Pelzeln, at Vienna, in October 1863, under 



