Scientific name: Sylvia rueppelli Temminck, 1823
Bird group: Warblers
Field characters. 14 cm. Male with black head, throat, and upper breast, separated by a broad white moustachial stripe. Red iris and eye-ring. Neck and mantle grey, wings with broad yellowish-white edges, tail dark with white outer tail feathers. Underparts whitish. Female resembles male, but black of throat and head mottled grey. Juveniles difficult to separate from Sardinian Warbler, because head is blackish-grey and throat pale; differs by obvious light edges on wings, greyer mantle, longer wings (longer primary projection), and longer bill. Eye-ring yellow to red. Both sexes have reddish-brown legs.
Voice. Call 'cherr', 'pit' and 'tec'. Song as Sardinian Warbler, but slower and more rattling.
Distribution. Quite common summer visitor in south-east Europe.
Habitat. Dense scrub, like maquis, and juniper and oak woods with dense undergrowth.
Food. Chiefly insects, also berries.