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298 Some Notes on the Spectacled Warbler in The 298 SOME NOTES ON THE SPECTACLED WARBLER IN THE MALTESE ISLANDS BY JOHN GIBB. OPPORTUNITY FOR OBSERVATION. FROM September 1941 until July 1945,1 was stationed in Malta and was able to devote much of my spare time to studying the bird-life of the islands. Malta, together with the sister isles of Gozo, Comino and Fihia, is primarily of interest to the ornithologist as a migrant station, for its breeding species are few. Among these few the Spectacled Warbler (Sylvia c. conspicillata) is prominent. Throughout my stay in the islands I was most concerned with keeping note of the shifting bird population, but it was inevitable that I should at the same time gain a closer acquaintance with the Spectacled Warbler than with any other single species. In the early spring of 1945, before the main influx of passage migrants was due, a slightly more intensive study and census of the species was made in order to fill some of the gaps in my previous notes. I was fortu­ nate in having the valued company and co-operation of Mr. D. A. Slight, of the Malta Command Signals, during the latter period. STATUS, DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. The Spectacled Warbler is a sedentary resident on Malta, Gozo and Comino Is. I was unable to visit the rocky islet of Filfla, lying three miles to the south of Malta, which can scarcely boast sufficient cover even for this species; Wright (1863) did not find it there. Schembri (1843) first recorded the Spectacled Warbler in Malta as arriving in March and leaving again in September; a summer visitor. Some 20 years later, however, Wright (1864) described the species as being the only warbler that was a constant resident, and Despott (1916) agreed with this. (Despott inexplicably omits the Spectacled Warbler from his list in the Ibis, 1917). Mackay (1899) has evidently confused the present species with the Whitethroat (Sylvia c. communis) when he says of the latter that he "frequently found their nests"; in fact his notes are so full of inaccuracies that none can be taken seriously. I found no evidence of migration whatsoever, and numbers appeared constant throughout the year. This is perhaps the more curious as the Spectacled Warbler is migratory in Spain (Jourdain, 1937), France (Mayaud, 1936), Southern Italy and Sicily (Arrigoni degli Oddi, 1929) and even, to some extent, in Tunisia (Whitaker, 1905) ; there is also evidence of migration in Algeria (Ticehurst and Whistler, 1938). No matter where one may go about the Maltese islands one is bound to meet the Spectacled Warbler. It is as well at home along the rugged cliffs of the south-west coastline as in a thistle-patch in VOL. XL.] SPECTACLED WARBLER. 299 the corner of a flat field in the centre of the island. I found it on the rocky wastes at 800 ft. and on the ancient bastions of Valletta city itself. In fact the rougher and less cultivated the ground, the better it fares: for the bird shuns the few places on Malta where trees abound, notably in the Boschetto and the St. Anton Gardens —but this is not typical Maltese country. Yet the species is far from catholic in its tastes. It demands a very specialized breeding ground, which Malta can provide abund­ antly for it. It requires an open uncultivated patch with just enough low cover for the nest, no more and no less, Whether this patch be surrounded by cultivated land, barren acres of rock or by city buildings, as in Valletta, matters not at all. It is interesting to compare this Malta habitat with that elsewhere in the range of the Spectacled Warbler. It is common in Egypt on the scrubby desert fringing the Delta (Meinertzhagen, 1922). In the Camargue (Alexander et at., 1933, Glegg, 1931 and Yeates, 1943) it is almost exclusively a bird of the Salicomia scrub; in Sicily (Whitaker, 1905) it is confined to the higher mountain districts. In Tunisia (Whitaker, 1905) it is apparently common on the semi- desert plains and on the inland salt-marshes, whilst in some parts of the regency it is a common garden bird. South of the Atlas mount­ ains it frequents the low patches of Thymelcea hirsuta scrub where this gives way to the Saharan sands (Heim de Balsac, 1924, 1926, 1936) and breeds in Zizyphus scrub in Algeria and Morocco (Jourdain, unpub. and Lynes, 1925). It penetrates into the valleys and on to the open plateaux between Ghardaia and Zirara, some 350-400 miles due south of Algiers. In the Cape Verde Is. (Bannerman, 1939) S. c. orbitalis is found from sea-level to the mountain tops; here it favours acacia and other thickets and nests as high as 7 ft. from the ground. In the Canary Is. (Bannerman, 1922) the vertical range of its habitat extends from the semi-desert belt of the Maritime Zone up to 6,000 ft.; though showing a preference for the Euphorbia shrubs of the former. FIELD CHARACTERISTICS AND GENERAL HABITS, Out of the migration season there can be no mistaking the Spectacled Warbler in Malta. No other resident species, summer or winter visitor can be confused with it, and the much greyer Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia m. melanocepkala) is the only other resident warbler. In the migration season confusion is perhaps most likely with the Whitethroat, but the Spectacled is redder on the wing coverts and this alone is always adequate for identification purposes. The white eye-rim from which the bird gets its name is difficult to detect under field conditions. The sexes are generally similar, but may be distinguished in a good light. In the breeding season especially the male is appreciably brighter and smarter than the female, but the differences are purely comparative. Juveniles resemble the female. 300 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XL. The birds are usually seen in pairs and remain together in one restricted locality all the year round. In Malta there is no suggest­ ion of the winter flocking recorded for S, c. orbitalis in the Cape Verde Is. by Bannerman (1939). Although capable of skulking behaviour at times and adept at disappearing into the absolute minimum of cover, the Spectacled Warbler is by no means secretive. They often pause in their activities to sing a brief phrase or scold an intruder, standing conspicuously erect with upcocked tail. Flight is low and direct except in the early breeding-season, when longer and higher excursions are taken. The birds feed in short vegetation, along the rough stone walls and on the ground ; I have seen insects taken on the wing. VOICE. Notes are an high-pitched "tseet," used continually at all times, especially in company; and a scolding churr. This varies from a full-throated angry churr, rasping and metallic, down to a soft subdued mutter in mild annoyance, often used when preoccupied with more important business. The song is a sweet exhilarating warble of short duration, quickly repeated; not stereotyped. It resembles that of the Sardinian Warbler, but is less raucous. It is sweetest when sung with slow deliberation and quickly deteriorates in excitement as more squeaky notes are introduced. It is delivered from a prominent minor feature or occasionally early in the breeding-season from tree-tops up to about 20 ft. There is also the hovering or planing flight-song in spring, which is more hurried and less musical. Regular song is from the end of January, though a spell of warm weather may produce good song some weeks earlier. It continues unabated until the first eggs are hatched, thereafter diminishing gradually; by June it is almost silent. Autumn song begins in September and is a half-hearted affair. The sub-song is a soft faint echo of the normal song, uttered with closed bill. DISPLAY AND POSTURING. Song flight. The bird rises from the ground or higher perch quickly and silently to about 30 ft., and then slowly descends singing with rapidly beating wings and fanned tail. Sometimes it rises no more than 6-10 ft., planing to the ground at a gentle incline as it sings. In anger or excitement the male alternates the scolding churr with outbursts of furious song ; the feathers of the crown are raised to an appreciable crest, wings drooped and tail cocked at an acute angle Courtship. The following procedure was noted once in March, 1945, The female was first seen sitting hunched and dishevelled in a low fig tree, whilst the male excitedly hopped from twig to twig within 18 ins., always keeping to the rear and slightly above the female. This continued for two or three minutes ; the male dancing VOL. XL.] SPECTACLED WARBLER. 301 about behind and above the female as if manoeuvring for an attack, but the female paying little apparent regard. The male eventually attempted to mount the female, but without success, for the latter immediately flew off a short distance to a stranded wire fence. The male followed closely and alighted on the strand above the female, then sang softly for a few moments. The female again flew off followed by the male and out of my sight. "Injury-feigning." (a) By female, when flushed from the nest at advanced stages of incubation and with young. An agitated flapping progress with broadly fanned tail for 2-5 yards over the ground. (b) By male, coaxing a snake away from young recently fledged. The bird lamely hopped and fluttered a couple of feet in front of the snake ; silent. When I interrupted the snake made off and the warbler altered its tactics to curse me roundly, churring and singing.
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