24 BARRED WARBLER. 



Tlie note of S. nisoria is strong and melodious, and 

 it sings from early morning till late in the evening a 

 song not inferior to that of tlie Garden Warbler, 

 which, it somewhat resembles. It sings frequently 

 while flying, and may often be seen rising np 

 several yards into the air, and then falling down like 

 a shot upon another tree or bush, alternately flying 

 and fluttering. 



In autumn the young males may be heard like the 

 other Hedge Warblers, snapping and croaking to all 

 comers. 



The Barred Warbler, according to Miihle, builds 

 in the beginning of May in thick thorn bushes, at a 

 height of two to four feet, a slight half-globular-shaped 

 nest. It is made very loose, with dry stalks of plants, 

 small straws interwoven with spiders' and caterpillars' 

 webs, and lined inside with horse-hair. It lays four 

 to six eggs, grey greenish or yellowish grey, with 

 bright ash grey or pale brown spots. They only breed 

 once a year, and the male and female sit on the eggs 

 alternately. 



The male has the whole upper part of the body 

 clear dark grey, usually with a rusty yellowish tint. 

 The greater and lesser wing coverts and upper tail 

 coverts edged with white, more feeble and contracted 

 from the third to the fifth primary; the third primary 

 longest, the second almost as long; tail dark ash grey, 

 first feathers with outer border whitish; the middle 

 quill and second quill have at the end a broad wedge- 

 shaped white spot; the third and fourth an oblique 

 deep edge of white. Under parts of body greyish 

 white, and flanks darker, with dark grey wavy lines, 

 especially well-marked on the under tail coverts, taking 

 there a lanceolate form. In the young birds these wavy 



