402 



narrowly edged on the outer web with dark slate-blue, wing-coverts more broadly margined with that 

 colour ; tail rounded, black, the outer feather on each side with the terminal portion and the outer 

 web white, the next in order broadly tipped with white, and the third similarly but more narrowly 

 tipped ; throat pure white, breast white, washed with blue-grey, centre of the abdomen white ; flanks, 

 under wing-coverts, and under tail-coverts blue-grey ; bill brownish horn, dull yellowish at the base of 

 the lower mandible ; iris red, with an orange tinge, the edge of the eyelids brick-red ; legs dark brown. 

 Total length about 4'7 inches, culmen 0-52, gape 055, wing 2-15, tail 2-35, tarsus 0"82, first primary 

 short, - 95 less than the second, which is - 18 less than the third, third and fourth nearly equal, the 

 third being, if any thing, the longest. 



Adult Female (Guiken, 24th March) . Upper parts dark greyish brown, the crown and nape tinged with 

 blue-grey; quills and wing-coverts blackish brown, margined with dull dark greyish brown; tail 

 blackish brown, with rather lighter margins, the outer tail-feather with a narrow dirty white edging to 

 the outer web, and tipped with dull brownish white ; throat and centre of the abdomen white ; rest of 

 the underparts dull greyish brown ; soft parts as in the male, and the edge of the eyelids also red, but 

 duller in colour. 



Nestling (Sardinia). Upper parts dull brownish, darker on the head; underparts white, washed with 

 brownish buff; throat white; quills dark brown, edged with dull greyish brown. 



Obs. I do not find any difference between the plumage worn in summer and the winter dress, as specimens 

 obtained in September, December, and January are just as brightly coloured as those shot in March 

 and April. 



1 am indebted to Canon Tristram for the loan of his type of Sylvia bowmani, which I am quite unable to 

 separate from the present species. Canon Tristram writes to me that he is quite convinced that it is 

 distinct, as the iris is yellow, and the note differs from that of Sylvia melanocephala ; but against this 

 view I may remark that it is quite impossible to distinguish a species by its note only, as many birds 

 vary their song not a little ; and as regards the colour of the iris, I have specimens of Sylvia melano- 

 cephala, collected by Dr. Kriiper, on the labels of which he has written that the iris is bright yellow. 

 Whether this difference in the coloration of the iris is owing to age or not I cannot say ; but there is 

 no doubt that the colour of the iris varies in both sexes, beiug either bright chestnut-red, orange, or 

 yellow. Von Heuglin also remarks this difference in the coloration of the iris, and says, in describing 

 this bird from North-east Africa, " iride turn helvola, turn lateritia." Compared with specimens of 

 Sylvia melanocephala from Sardinia, Spain, and Turkey, I find it utterly impossible to distinguish the 

 type of Sylvia bowmani ; and were the labels removed, I should be unable to pick it out from amongst 

 the series. As the reddish-coloured iris appears to be more common than the yellow, I have figured 

 specimens with the iris reddish. Sylvia melanothorax , Tristram (Ibis, 1872, p. 296), of which the 

 types are before me, appears, however, to be a good species, differing from Sylvia melanocephala in 

 having the throat and breast black, all the feathers being tolerably broadly tipped with white, not pure 

 black in either sex ; and the abdomen is much darker than in that species. After measuring my entire 

 series, I cannot discover any constant difference in size between examples from Sardinia, Malta, and 

 Asia Minor, though, as a rule, eastern specimens are, if any thing, a trifle smaller than those from 

 Western Europe. 



This little Warbler, somewhat resembling a miniature Blackcap, inhabits Southern Europe and 

 North Africa, being in most localities a resident, though in some, as in Asia Minor, it is a 

 migrant. It is common in Southern France, and breeds numerously in Provence, being, according 



