THE SARDINIAN WARBLER. 

 Sylvia melanocephala (Gmelin). 

 Plate 5. 



Only one example of the Sardinian Warbler has been obtained in Great Britain, 

 a male having been killed near Hastings on June 3, 1907. 



According to the authors of A Hand-list of British Birds, p. 71, this species 

 " Breeds in south Europe, Asia Minor, and north-west Africa, and winters partly 

 in same countries, partly in Sahara, Palestine, and Nubia." 



The Sardinian Warbler resembles the Blackcap in its habits. 



Colonel Irby, who was well acquainted with this bird, writes in The Ornithology 

 of the Straits of Gibraltar (2nd ed., p. 54) : " The earliest egg laid was on the 12th 

 of March." Speaking of the nest, he goes on to say: "This was built in a small 

 rose-bush, and was spoiled by a gale of wind, which blew all the eggs out of it, 

 being the only one I ever saw in what could be called an open bush. All the others 

 were placed in thick bushes, generally box, about two to four feet from the ground, 

 and were formed of grass with a few bits of cotton-thread, lined with hair; but 

 they also nest at some height on boughs of trees. The eggs vary in number from 

 three to five. The male assists in incubation. 



"This bird is, like the Blackcap and Garden- Warbler, very fond of figs and 

 grapes and all kinds of fruit." 



The female is duller and browner in colour than the male. 



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