399 



SYLVIA MELANOTHORAX. 



(PALESTINE WARBLER.) 



Sylvia melanofhorax, Tristram, Ibis, 1872, p. 296. 



Figura nulla. 



6 ad. capite et corpore supra ut in Sylvia melanocephald picturatis, sed hoc paullo saturatiore : remigibus 

 nigricantibus, in pogonio externo vix albido marginatis : tectricibus alarum nigris albo marginatis : 

 cauda ut in S. melanocephald : gula, gutture et pectore nigris, plumis omnibus albo apicatis : corpore 

 imo subtus cinereo : rostro brunneo, ad basin pallidiore : iride flava : pedibus pallide brunneis. 



2 ad. feminse Sylvice melanocephala similis, sed pilei plumis ad basin nigricantibus et gutture cum pectore 

 superiore nigro notatis. 



Adult Male (Engedi, 2nd February) . Upper parts as in Sylvia melanocephala, the crown, nape, and sides 

 of the head being glossy black, and the back dark slate-grey, but the back in the present species is, if 

 any thing, a trifle darker than in S. melanocephala ; quills darker than in that species, being black, 

 narrowly edged with white on the outer web; wing- coverts black, margined with white; tail similarly 

 coloured to that of S. melanocephala ; underparts ashy grey, except the throat and breast, which are 

 jet-black, tipped with greyish white, these tips to some extent concealing the black bases of the feathers ; 

 bill dark brown, lighter at the base ; legs light brown ; iris dark yellow. Total length about 4" 75 inches, 

 culmen 055, wing 2'35, tail 2 - 42, tarsus 075. First primary about - 2 inch longer than the primary 

 coverts, l - 2 shorter than the second, which latter is a trifle shorter than the third, third a trifle less 

 than the fourth, which is the longest. 



Adult Female (Engedi, 2nd February) . Upper parts as in the female of S. melanocephala, but there are 

 signs of the head becoming blackish; underparts white, on the flanks and abdomen washed with 

 brownish, throat and upper breast marked with black spots. Culmen 0'5, wing 2 - 3, tail 2'4, 

 tarsus 0*71. 



The present species is certainly one of the least-known of the Warblers which I shall have to 

 include in the present work ; for nothing is known respecting it, except what was published by 

 Canon Tristram, who first discovered and described it. This gentleman writes (I. c.) as follows : — 

 " When searching among the trees and shrubs at Engedi, where birds are generally plentiful, I 

 noticed consorting with the Black-headed Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) a pair of another 

 species ; and after a long pursuit I succeeded in obtaining both male and female. My attention 

 was first directed to them by the note, which differs most markedly from that of S. melano- 

 cephala." No other traveller in the Holy Land appears to have met with this rare species, and 

 1 have been unable to gain any further information respecting it. Nor, so far as I can ascertain, 

 does a specimen exist in any collection, except the pair shot by Canon Tristram, to whom I am 

 indebted for the loan of them. It is to be boped that ornithologists who visit the part of the 



z 



