122 WARBLER. 



135 -AFRICAN WARBLER. 



Sylvia Africana, Tnd. Orn. ii. 518. Gm. Lin. i. 958. 



Cumica naevia Cap B. Spei, Bris. iii. 390. t. 22. 2. Id. 8vo. i. 419. 



Faiivette tachetee du Cap de Bonne Esperance, Buf. v. 160. 



Le Fluteur, Levail.Afr.'m. 61. pi. 112. f. 2. 



Merion, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. Anal. p. lxvii. 



African Warbler, Gen. Syn. iv. 436. Shaw's Zool. x. 615. 



LENGTH seven inches and a quarter. Bill horn-colour; crown 

 of the head rufous, dashed with blackish ; neck behind, back, and 

 scapulars black, edged with rufous grey ; lower part of the back, 

 rump, and upper tail coverts the same, but the margins more rufous ; 

 beneath the body dirty rufous white, in some dashed with black on 

 the sides ; on each side of the throat a longitudinal black streak ; 

 quills brown, fringed with rufous; the tail very loosely webbed, and 

 somewhat cuneiform ; the four middle feathers brown, with rufous 

 margins ; the four outer, on each side, rufous outwardly, and brown 

 down the shafts ; legs grey brown. 



The female is smaller, and the tail shorter, and the plumage not 

 so bright in colour. They are very seldom seen but in pairs. 



Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. — M. Levaillant seems to think 

 this bird much allied to the Thrush Genus. Its note said to resemble 

 the sound of a flute, whence the name given to it. Is chiefly found 

 on the borders of streams, among the reeds ; its flight slow, and it is 

 frequently observed fixed to the stalk of the reed ; feeds on all kinds 

 of insects, and their larvae. It is for the most part fat, and the flesh 

 in much estimation, being very delicate ; very common in the 

 marshes about Constance, and along the East Coast, but never 

 except where reeds grow. 



