l88 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



spiral. The five or six eggs are not often laid before the middle 

 of May ; they are larger than those of the WiUow-Wren and are 

 thickly speckled, often forming a zone, with darker, more 

 purplish red and violet (Plate 65). Early in July the song 

 ceases, and, though the presence of the bird is difficult to detect 

 when it is silent amongst the full summer leafage, the majority 

 appear to leave before the beginning of September. 



The plumage above is yellowish green, beneath white with 

 a marked sulphur-yellow suffusion on the throat and breast, 

 thighs and axillaries ; the broad sulphur-yellow eye-stripe, 

 reaching to the nape, and the edgings to the feathers of the 

 wings are very noticeable. The bill, legs and irides are brown. 

 The sexes are alike, and the young is yellower than the adult. 

 Structurally the bird differs from the other two in that the 

 emargination of the primaries only extends to the fourth. Length, 

 S"i ins. Wing, 3*1 ins. Tarsus, 7 in. 



Chiffchaff. Phylloscopus coUyhita (Vieil.). 



Two races of the Chiffchaff are recognised as British, the 

 typical form of west, central and southern Europe and the 

 northern and eastern bird, known as the Scandinavian Chift- 

 chaff, P. c. abietinus (Nilsson), slightly larger and paler. Until 

 recently the Chiffchaff (Plate ']Z) was called a summer resident 

 and bitd of passage, but it seems probable that most if not all 

 the passage birds belong to the Scandinavian form. The 

 nesting bird winters in southern Europe and north Africa ; the 

 winter range of the other still needs elucidation. The Scandi- 

 navian race has been identified in places so far apart as the 

 Isle of Wight and the Shetlands. 



The Chiffchaff closely resembles the Willow- WVen except in 

 its song ; it is rather browner and its legs are noticeably 

 darker, but in a good light the bird is very yellow, About the 

 middle of March, not long after the Wheatear and about the 



