54 
British Birds. 
is somewhat similar to that of the Common Whitethroat, but is rather more coarsely 
made, consisting of grass-stems, bound together with spiders’-webs, and lined with 
fine rootlets and horse-hair. The eggs are from four to six in number, white, with 
spots of light brown or greenish-brown and violet-grey, while a frequent feature is 
the distribution of black spots over the greater part of the egg. 
This species is larger than any of the preceding ones, with a 
wing three inches in length. Its black head might render it 
liable to be mistaken for the Black-cap, but the latter bird has 
the throat ashy-grey, whereas in the Orphean Warbler it is 
white. The general colour of the upper surface is slaty-grey, the tail black, tipped 
with white, increasing in extent towards the outer feathers, which are white on the 
entire outer web ; cheeks, throat, and under parts white, with the sides of the breast 
and flanks ashy-grey, tinged with pink and becoming browner on the lower flanks ; the 
THE ORPHEAN 
WARBLER. 
(i Sylvia orpheus). 
i — T he Garden-Warbler. 2 — The Orphean Warbler. 3- -The Blackcap. 
iris is pale yellow. The female is browner than the male, and the cap is lighter, and 
more dusky black ; the young birds are also browner than the adults, and have the 
fore-neck and chest rosy buff, inclining to vinous on the sides of the body. 
The Orphean Warbler is supposed to have occurred twice in England, once in 
Yorkshire and once near Hampstead, but considerable doubt attaches to both records. 
It is a species of Southern Europe, and is common in Spain and the South of France. 
Naturalists who have heard this bird sing state that its melody is nothing remark- 
able, and Lord Lilford says that he is puzzled to know why the name of ‘ Orpheus ’ 
should have been bestowed on the species. The nest is placed in the branch of a 
tree at from five to twenty feet above the ground, and is somewhat deep, composed 
of dry grass and stalks, with finer grass inside, the lining consisting of down of the 
thistle or cotton grass. The eggs are four or five in number, white, spotted with 
olive-brown or black, and with blotches of violet-grey. 
