SUBALPINE WARBLER. 

 Sylvia subalpina, Bonelli. 

 Plate 6. 



Only two specimens of this delicately tinted little bird have been obtained in 

 the British Islands, the first on the island of St. Kilda in June 1894, and another, 

 an adult male, on Fair Isle, Shetland, on May 6, 1908. It is a South European 

 species, common in some of the Mediterranean islands, and inhabiting also Spain, 

 Portugal, Italy, and south-eastern France. It winters in Africa. 



Howard Saunders, in his Manual of British Birds (2nd ed., p. 54), says : "The 

 nest, of dry grass with a finer lining, is placed in a low bush " ; and he describes 

 the four to five eggs as varying " from greenish-white with brown spots, to reddish- 

 white with violet-brown spots and streaks." 



The food consists of insects. 



Colonel Irby says, in The Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar {2x\d ed., p. 53) : 

 " I saw eight or ten among the flowers and trees on the Alameda de Apodaca at 

 Cadiz ; they were exceedingly tame, and I watched them for a long time hopping 

 about in and out among the flowers like a common Wren." 



In colour the female is brownish above, and tawny- white on the throat and 

 breast. 



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