Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 8 of 9.djvu/46

 stripe is not so conspicuous. The underparts are whitish more or less suffused with vinous on the throat and light buff on the upper breast, flanks, and roots of the under tail-coverts. The abdomen is white and the under side of the wings and tail as in the male. The colour of the iris, bill, and feet is similar in both sexes.

There are only two records of the occurrence of this southern species in Great Britain, one from St. Kilda and the other from Fair Isle. It has occurred in Switzerland, but in Europe its breeding range includes Spain, Portugal, the south-eastern parts of France, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Dalmatia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Ionian Islands, and the Archipelago. It also inhabits Asia Minor and Cyprus, and has been observed in Palestine. As a breeding species it appears also to be common in Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, and passes through Egypt on migration. Probably the North-West African and the West Mediterranean birds are resident, but very little appears to be known of its winter quarters beyond the fact of its migrating in numbers through Algeria and Tunisia, and having occurred in Somaliland, Arabia, and German East Africa. So that apparently the birds from the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, &c, are regular migrants.

Slight subspecific differences are noted between birds from (1) South-west Europe and West Mediterranean; (2) North-west Africa; and (3) South-east Europe. Asia Minor, and East Mediterranean.