"British writers, since the time of Pennant and White, have rendered the
history of several of our smallest birds a mass of confusion, which even
now it will be difficult to clear up, though I feel confident I possess
the means of loosening two at least of the knots of the controverted
points, as I shall presently show.
"When I was residing, in the summer of 1832, at Bonn, on the Rhine, my
friend M. Wichterich brought me a pair of birds with their young, which
at first sight, judging from colour and size, I took to be pale
canaries, till I looked at their bills; I perceived then that it was a
species with which I was unacquainted, and certainly not known as
British. I was accordingly not a little surprised when he told me it was
the _Sylvia Hippolais_ of Bechstein, and astonished when he said it was
one of the finest song birds in Europe, very superior to the blackcap
and fauvette, and in some respects even to the nightingale. I thence
concluded that it was the species whose splendid song had charmed and
puzzled me in an orchard at Schiedam, in Holland, and again in the
gardens of Prince Maximilian, at Neuwied, on the Rhine; the rich
intonation and multitudinous variety of the notes fully bearing out my
friend's opinion. This circumstance alone would go far to prove that the
species is not British, for it would be impossible so fine a song bird
could be concealed, particularly as it haunts gardens, and is rarely
found in woods. The very contrary of the statement of Temminck, whose
authority, how high soever it may be in other matters, is, with respect
to habits and field observations, of not the slightest weight: he might
have seen the bird, if he ever looked beyond his cabinet, in most of the
gardens about Leyden, where he resides.
"I kept the old birds with their young, which they fed in a cage for
some time, but to my great regret they fell a sacrifice to the common
enemy of cage birds. About the same time I was delighted to find a nest
of the same species in a lilac-tree in my own garden, about half a dozen
yards from my parlour windows. Three of the young after leaving this
nest were secured, and their mother was caught to feed them, which she
did successfully, and I brought them all, and three others, home with me
to England. The nest was about seven feet high from the garden level,
and ten from the base of a low wall, over which the branch where it was
built leaned. The workmanship of the nest is very superior to that of
the blackcap, coming nearer in character to that of the finches. The
frame-work is rather thick, made of dried grass stems, sewing thread,
fine wood shavings, birch bark, and small pieces of linen rag. The
inside is very neatly lined with roots, hair, and a few feathers and
small locks of wool.
"In the full grown male the bill is about half an inch long, straight,
somewhat blunt, broad and flat at the base. The upper mandible has an
exceedingly indistinct notch, and is greyish blue; the under mandible
yellowish, with a tinge of red; the angles yellowish, and the opening of
the mouth lemon yellow. The tongue is yellow, abrupt at the point, and
furnished with three bristles. The iris is dusky brown. The forehead is
low, flat, angular, and pointed. The eyebrows and eyelids are yellow,
and a yellow line runs from the nostrils to the eyes. The crown of the
head, neck, back, and wing-coverts are olive grey, inclining more to
green on the rump. The shoulder of the wing (_campterium_, ILLIGER) is
yellow: the primary quill-feathers are dusky brown, with a slight fringe
of olive grey; the rest of the quill-feathers have a broader fringe of
greyish white, which, when the wing is closed, forms a whitish patch.
The tail is two inches long, the feathers being of equal length, and of
very nearly the same colours and tinge as the wing-quills. All the under
parts of the body are of a fine clear lemon colour. The legs are
five-sixths of an inch high, and of a lead colour; the claws greyish
brown. The whole length is five inches and a half; the extent of the
wings nine inches.
The female is sometimes, but not always, rather paler than the male. The
young have the yellow parts very pale.
A species very similar to this has been discovered in Italy by Prince C.
Buonaparte--the _Sylvia icterina_? of Vieillot, which frequents marshy
places.