SYLVIA NANA.
Desert Whitethroat.

Curruca nana, Hempr. & Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. cc (1828).

Salicaria aralensis, Eversm. Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc., xxiii. pt. 2, p. 565, pl. viii. fig. 1 (1850).

Sylvia delicatula, Hartl. Ibis, 1859, p. 340, pl. x. fig. 1.—Salvad. Atti R. Acc. Se. Torin., iii. p. 290 (1868).—
Blyth, Ibis, 1869, p. 29.—Hume, tom. cit. p. 359, et 1871, p. 32.—Id. Stray F,, i. ps 199° Cis73)e

—— Dorie, De Filippi, Viage. Pers., p. 348 (1865).—Tristr. Ibis, 1867, p. 84.

—— nana, Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr., i. p. 306 (1870).—Finsch u. Hartl. Voc. Ostafr., p. 244 (1870).
Atraphornis aralensis, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn., p. 124 C87). |

 

Piain-coLourep as this little Warbler really is, it is nevertheless a species of great interest, as it is nearly
allied to our own familiar Whitethroats and to the Spectacled Warbler (8. conspicillata). It is evidently a
species suited for inhabiting a desert country, whence its colour.

The present species has a very extended range, being found from Central Asia and North-western India
right across to North-eastern Africa, as will be seen by the excellent note furnished me by Mr. Blanford,
who has solved its rather confused synonymy by a careful comparison of types. I am likewise indebted to
the same gentleman for the following account, which he had prepared for his work on the natural history of
Persia :—

‘‘T have examined the types of Curruca nana, Hemp & Ehr., at Berlin, and of 8. Dorie, De Fil., at Genoa,
and have confirmed the identification of these species with §. delicatula, Hartlaub, suggested by Von Heuglin
and Salvadori. Specimens sent from Russia to the museums of London and Berlin as Salicaria aralensis
also belong to this species ; and the only difference I can find in the description of S. aralensis by Eversmann
is that the feet are said to be light bluish (‘hell blaulich’) instead of dull yellow, a difference due possibly to
Eversmann’s description bemg taken from dried specimens.

“T have shot Sy/oa nana in Southern Persia and in Baluchistan—in the former in summer on a rather barren
plain sparingly covered with small bushes; in the latter in winter amongst tamarisk-bushes near a water-
course, the whole of the surrounding country being desert. The usual haunt of this little Warbler throughout
its rather wide range appears to be either semidesert plains or bushes near water in desert countries.
Von Heuglin found it ‘in dense salt-plant copses’ on the African coast of the Red Sea, near Berbera &c.
The types of S. aralensis were said to be from reeds on the shores of the Sea of Aral and the Syr Daria (or
Jaxartes) River: Tristram met with this species on a salt plain near the south end of the Dead Sea; Doria
on a similar salt plain near Yezd in Persia; Jerdon and Hume in dry semidesert parts of North-western
India, near Delhi, in western Rajpootana, and in Sind.

“Usually S. nana may be seen hunting about bushes and occasionally searching the ground about their
roots. De Filippi, quoting Doria, says that it always remains on the ground, and that it has a habit of
raising its tail. Its movements in general are somewhat Drymeca-like, as was observed by Von Heuglin ;
its flight is very weak and somewhat like that of the Willow-Wren. I did not notice its voice, which,
however, has been described by Von Heuglin and Hume to be feeble, resembling that of a Drymeca.

“My notes on the coloration of the soft parts and on the measurements agree with the details given by
Von Heuglin and Hume. The iris is golden yellow; bill dusky on the culmen, pale (almost flesh:colouned))
below ; legs dull yellow. The following are the measurements of a male taken when the bird was jet shot :—
Length 4:75 inches, expanse 7°25, wing 2°1 (in another specimen 2°4), tail 2, tarsus 0°8, bill from the
gape 0°46.”

General colour sandy isabelline, slightly more rufous on the wing-coverts ; rump and upper tail-coverts
rufous fawn-colour, the middle tail-feathers also of this colour, with dark brown shaft-stripes ; the remainder
of the tail-feathers dark brown, margined with fawn, the penultimate one edged and tipped with white, the
outermost feather entirely white; quills very pale brown, with light sandy coloured margins slightly mixed
with rufous; inner secondaries with sandy white margins, paler than on the primaries ; lores a circlet of
feathers round eye white, as also the cheeks ; ear-coverts sandy rufous 5 entire under ue of body,
including the under wing- and tail-coverts, sandy white, inclining to isabelline on the flanks. ‘Total length
42 inches, culmen #, wing 2%, tail 1%, tarsus ae ca ree.

There appears to be little or no difference in the colouring of the sexes, 1n which respects it assimilates

to its European prototypes.

The figures in the accompanying Plate are supposed to represent each) set, of the aa