448 MR. W. W. FOWLER ON BIRDS OF THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME. 
The absence of the Song Thrush was also surprising ; but it 
is probably to be found on the wooded slopes of the hills. The 
Blackbird was common ; the Robin fairly so ; and with the 
exceptions I have mentioned, our common British birds were 
pretty well represented. But even here the Pied Wagtail was 
replaced by the White Wagtail, of which species we saw many. 
On Whit Monday the weather broke, and I had to be content 
with listening to an Icterine Warbler near the hotel, while 
Macpherson went in search of Marsh Warblers where we had 
heard them the day before. The Icterine has a harsh call-note 
which is sometimes heard in the song ; but the individual to 
which I listened for a long time here seemed to me to be 
a remarkably sweet as well as varied singer. It imitated the 
Song Thrush, Tree Pipit (which was fairly abundant here), 
Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, and 
Sparrow. That the Hypolais of this district is //. icterina , and 
not //. polyglotta, seems to be now proved beyond question ; the 
birds we listened to were too large for the latter, and Macpherson 
noted the longer wing, which gives the tail the appearance of 
being comparatively short. Whether the birds recently discovered 
by Rev. Murray A. Mathew at Lyme Regis, in Dorset,* belong to 
the smaller species, may perhaps still be matter of doubt ; but the 
distribution of the two nearly allied species on the western coast 
of France seems to suggest it strongly, if H. polyglotta extends as 
far north as Brittany, which is opposite to the coast of Dorset. 
A more careful examination by British ornithologists of the 
avi- fauna of the north-west coast of France would probably produce 
some interesting results. We found our three days’ stay most useful 
and instructive ; and a visit of three weeks, or, if possible, of three 
months, at the right season, would no doubt be found at least 
as interesting as many journeys which are made to much more 
distant lands. 
* See ‘The Zoologist’ for June, 1898, p. 265, and the last edition of 
H. Saunders’ ‘ Manual,’ p. 77. 
