THE WOOD WREN. 
189 
When in H.M.S. Beacon, on the 25th of April, 1841, 
and about 60 miles from Calabria (the nearest land), and 
135 east of Mount Etna, a scops-eared owl was knocked down 
on the deck and captured, just as he had clutched a lesser white- 
throat (S. curruco), of which species two or three appeared. 
On the 26th another 8. curruca alighted, when the vessel was 
about 90 miles from Zante (the nearest land), and 130 from 
Navarino. On this day, a sub-alpine warbler ( 8ylvia suhalpina, 
Bonelli) — a south of Europe species — also came on board. 
THE WOOD WEEN. 
Sylvia sylvicola , Lath. 
„ sibilatrix, Bechst. 
Holds a very doubtful place in our Fauna. 
In my series of papers on the Birds of Ireland, the following ap- 
peared : — Eelying on the accuracy of a relative, who has bestowed 
much attention on birds and their nests, I should be disposed to 
give this species a place here with confidence but for one charac- 
ter, hereafter to be mentioned. On June 19th, 1832, it is 
remarked of a nest he detected on the ground in a small meadow 
surrounded by a wooded glen at Wolf-hill, near Belfast, that it 
belonged to a bird most nearly approaching the willow wren, 
(S. Trochilus,) but larger, and with a whiter breast ; and that the 
eggs, instead of being marked with numerous very minute, and a 
few large specks of a dark pink colour, like those of the S. Tro- 
chilus , were dotted all over, so much so as to give the egg, at a 
cursory view, a light-brown appearance. Sketches of these eggs 
and of those of the willow wren, made at the time, are now before 
me, and present the difference here pointed out. He observes 
that it was a very pretty nest, formed of moss, and lined with 
feathers * On the morning of the 19th of June it contained one 
egg, on the 21st three, and on the 24th five eggs ; on July the 7th 
* This is the only character against its being that of the 8. sibilatrix , whose nest 
is stated by authors to differ from that of the S. Trochilus in not being lined with 
feathers. 
