535 



HYPOLAIS LANGUID!. 



(UPCHER'S WARBLER.) 



Curruca languida, Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. bb (1829). 

 Salicaria languida (Ehr.), Keys. & Bias. Wirbelth. Eur. p. 54 (1840). 

 Hypolais languida (Ehr.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 37 (1850-51). 

 Hippolais upcheri, Tristram, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 438. 



Figura nulla. 



6 ad. H. pallida: persimilis sed paullo major et grisescentior, rostro graciliore, remige primario extimo valde 

 breviore et attenuato. 



Adult Male (Magas, Baluchistan, 28th March) . In general coloration of plumage similar to H. pallida, but 

 a trifle greyer in general tinge; hill narrower and more slender; first primary much shorter and 

 narrower, more resembling that of H. olivetorum. Total length about 5£ inches, culmen 0'75, win°- 3-1 

 tail 275, tarsus 0-9; first primary scarcely as long as the primary coverts, 1-8 shorter than the second; 

 second - 2 shorter than the third, third and fourth about equal, soft parts as in H. pallida. 



The present species, distinguishable from Hypolais pallida by its somewhat larger size and 

 peculiarly short and narrow first primary, appears to have a somewhat restricted range, as it is 

 only recorded from Palestine, Syria, North-east Africa, and Persia. First discovered in Syria, 

 and described by Ehrenberg, who only obtained a single specimen, it was redescribed by 

 Canon Tristram, who met with it in Palestine, and writes (Ibis, 1867, p. 82) as follows: — " Our 

 first recognition of Upcher's Warbler was from finding a nest in an orchard under Mount 

 Hermon, from which a bird stole off, which I took to be H. elaica, till I noticed the eggs to be 

 of a rich salmon ground, and almost as large as those of the Olive-tree Warbler. I waited till 

 the bird returned, and then secured both parents, when I ascertained that I had got hold of an 

 exactly intermediate species. Its note is unlike that of H. elaica ; and it frequents very different 

 localities, the uplands of Hermon and Lebanon, in the vineyards, and oak coppices. We found 

 this bird very abundant in restricted localities." Von Heuglin (Orn. N.O.-Afr. p. 297) says that 

 it is found in Egypt and Syria, but is much rarer than H. pallida ; and Mr. Blanford (Geol. & 

 Zool. of Abyss, p. 379) shot specimens in Abyssinia in the Lebka valley and Samhar. It has, he 

 says, " precisely the habits of the Indian Acroceplialus dumetorum of Blyth, living amongst thick 

 bushes, and hunting about the branches for insects, uttering every now and then a sharp cry like 

 ' tchicJc-tchicJc.' It is a restless, active little bird." Mr. Blanford has also lately obtained several 

 of these Warblers in Persia and Baluchistan, all of which, together with his MS. notes, he has 

 most generously placed at my disposal. He states that " it is far from rare in Southern Persia 

 and the higher parts of Baluchistan, being found indifferently in gardens, in wooded ravines, and 

 in bushes on comparatively open plains. It is less abundant than H. pallida, Ehr., except in the 

 more open and semi-desert country, in which the latter was never observed." 



