OEPHEAN WAEBLEE. 



SYLVIA ORPHEA, Temm. 



Sylvia orphea, Temminck, Man. d'Orn. p. 107 (1815) ; Naum. 

 ii. p. 445 j Hewitson, i. p. 133 ; Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 423 ; 

 Dresser, ii. p. 411. 



Bee-fin orphee, French ; Orpheus-Grasmucke, German ; 

 Canaria, Alamero, Spanish. 



There do not appear to be more than two well- 

 authenticated instances on record of the occurrence of 

 this species in England, although more than one nest 

 containing eggs, attributed to the Orphean Warbler, 

 have been met with in this country. My own acquaint- 

 ance with this bird has chiefly been cultivated in Spain ; 

 I found it exceedingly common in the neighbourhood of 

 Madrid and Aranjuez. In these localities I generally 

 met with it frequenting the avenues of elm and deci- 

 duous bushes in the gardens and open country, as a rule 

 avoiding thickly wooded districts ; in Andalucia, on the 

 other hand, our bird appeared especially to frequent the 

 pine-woods, and the willows that grow thickly along 

 certain portions of the course of the Guadalquivir. The 

 nests that we found were placed at various heights, from 

 5 to 20 feet from the ground, often resting on the 



