424 



two or three more were seen at the same time. I purchased two in the market in the last week 

 of September 1862, and have since obtained two or three others." 



Lindermayer says that in Greece it is certainly resident, frequenting the more elevated 

 districts during the breeding-season, and the olive-groves and bushes in the lowlands during the 

 winter, when it is extremely common. Von der Miihle remarks that in the autumn it feeds on 

 the fruit of the cactus (Cactus opuntia), and often stains its throat bright yellow, which colour is 

 not easily washed off or removed ; and I have seen specimens both of the present species and 

 Sylvia melanocephala similarly stained. Salvadori remarks that Zuccarello-Patti, of Catania, 

 described in 1844 a bird thus stained as a variety of the present species; but he does not appear 

 to have given it any specific name. In Southern Germany and in Turkey it is also a common 

 bird, and breeds numerously in the south of Russia. In Asia Minor it remains during winter in 

 small numbers, at which season Dr. Kriiper met with it near Smyrna, and says that during 

 bright sunny weather it may sometimes be heard singing in the gardens. Canon Tristram met 

 with it in Palestine, and says (Ibis, 1867, p. 84) " S. atricapilla was much more abundant in 

 winter than afterwards, though still common enough. In winter it was gregarious, and all the 

 males we shot were in the same livery as the females, the black cap not being assumed till 

 March." It is a common species in North-east Africa, but does not appear to remain there to 

 breed. Von Heuglin says that it is a migrant in Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and along the Red 

 Sea, and appears singly or in pairs in Egypt in February or March, and again in the autumn. 

 Lefebvre saw it in Abyssinia in September ; and Von Heuglin himself met with it in the same 

 month in some of the islands in the Red Sea, and in February in Semien at an altitude of 

 10,000 feet. In North-west Africa it is very common during winter, and also remains there to 

 breed. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., says that he found it very numerous near Algiers in February, 

 but it is not so common in the summer season. About Tangier it is, according to Favier (fide 

 Irby, Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 84), " nearly as common as S. melanocephala, being seen on all sides 

 during migration, passing north in January and February, returning in October. Many remain 

 to nest." Specimens have been obtained from Senegal and the Gambia ; and Temminck states 

 that it occurs at the Cape of Good Hope, which is not impossible ; but he is clearly wrong in 

 stating that it has been obtained in Java and Japan. 



It inhabits the Cape-Verd Islands, the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores. Dr. Dohrn says 

 (J. f. O. 1871, p. 5), it is "common all over the Cape-Verd Islands; in January I found nests 

 with eggs on orange-trees at San Antao." Dr. Carl Bolle says that it inhabits the wooded 

 districts of Teneriffe ; and Mr. F. DuCane Godman writes (Ibis, 1872, p. 174) as follows: — 

 "This bird is very common in the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, and is much prized by 

 the inhabitants for its singing-qualities. It is caught in considerable numbers and kept in 

 cages, and is easily domesticated. In both Madeira and the Azores a variety is not unfrequently 

 found having the black on the head extending as far as the shoulders and round under the 

 throat." This variety, which was first noticed by Heineken (Zool. Journ. v. p. 75), was described 

 by Sir William Jardine (Edinburgh Journ. Nat. and Geogr. Sc. i. p. 243, 1830) as a distinct 

 species under the name of Curruca heineken ; but I have been unable to obtain the necessary 

 materials in the way of specimens of this bird to enable me to decide if it is merely a variety or a 

 good species ; the general opinion, however, of those who have seen it in its native haunts is that it 



