Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 4 of 9.djvu/49

 

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LESSER WHITETHROAT.

 

Curruca sylviella, Hewitson, British Oology, 1st Ed., vol. i, pl. 42, fig. 4 (egg), 1833; id. Eggs of British Birds, 2nd Ed., vol. i, p. 98, pl. 27, fig. 4 (egg), 1846; Booth, Rough Notes, vol. ii, p. 55, 1883.

Curruca garrula, Meyer, British Birds, folio Ed., vol. i (coloured plate figuring adult male and egg) [1835-43].

Sylvia garrula, Macgillivray, British Birds, vol, ii, pp. 357-360, 1839.

Sylvia curruca, Hewitson, Eggs of British Birds, 3rd Ed., vol. i, p. 132, pl. 35, fig. 4 (egg), 1854; Gould, Birds of Great Britain, vol, ii, 2 pp, pl. 58 (coloured figure of adult male and female), 1865; Yarrell, British Birds, 4th Ed., vol. i, edited by Newton, pp. 410-413 (woodcut), 1873; Dresser, Birds of Europe, pp. 383-388, pl. 58, (coloured figure of adult male), 1876; Seebohm, British Birds, vol. i, pp. 410-413, pl. 10, fig. 6 (egg), 1883; Lilford, Coloured Figures, vol. iii, p. 52, pl. 26 (coloured figure of adult male), 1885; Saunders, Manual of British Birds, 2nd Ed., pp. 43-44 (woodcut), 1897.

Croatian, Grmusa Sivoperke; Danish, Gjærde-Sanger; Dutch, Braamsluiper; French, Bec-fin babillard; German, Zaun-Grasmücke; Hungarian, Szurke posyáta; Italian, Bigiarella; Norwegian, Graesmutte; Swedish, Artsangare; Russian, Peresmeshka.

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLUMAGE.

Adult Male in Spring.—The upper parts are brownish grey, but the crown is more ashy grey, the lores and sides of the head being of the same colour, but darker. The wings and tail-feathers are brownish grey, the innermost secondaries being broadly and the primaries narrowly edged with the same colour as the back, and the bastard wing is slaty brown. The rump and upper tail-coverts are brownish grey, slightly lighter than the back, and the tail-feathers are edged with the same colour, the outermost being whitish with an oblique smoke-coloured spot on the inner web. The under parts are whitish, pure white on the throat, faintly washed with pinkish buff on the upper breast, and light bullish brown on the flanks.

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