162 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



seen no birds from either of those countries, but a series from the 

 Sudan and the present bird from Ethiopia are quite uniform in this 

 respect. 



The present specimen is in rather fresh plumage. It has a wing 

 length of 68 mm. 



PHYLLOSCOPUS TROCHILUS TROCHILUS (Linnscns) 



Motacilla trocMhis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 188, 1758: England (see 

 Hartert, Die Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna, vol. 1, p. 597, 1907). 



Specimens collected: 2 males, 2 females, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, 

 April 2-21, 1912. 



The willow warbler winters throughout the greater part of Africa 

 south to the Cape Province. In the areas traversed by the Frick 

 expedition it is a common and regular migrant and winter visitor. 

 The four specimens listed above were very fat and were undoubtedly 

 migrating north when collected. 



The northern Eurasian race eversmanni also winters in Africa, and 

 it may be that one of the present specimens may be of that race. 

 However, the difference between the two is very slight (wings 66 to 

 70 mm in trochilus^ 68 to 72 mm in eversmanni — males in both 

 cases), and it is not always possible to differentiate between migrants 

 of the two forms. The two males collected have wing lengtlis of 

 70 and 71.5 mm, respectively, but do not bear out the statement made 

 by various writers that eversmanni is grayer, less greenish above, and 

 whiter, less yellow below than the nominate race. 



Erlanger ^^ found this bird in great numbers in southern Shoa 

 during December, and met with it commonly in Gurraland in the 

 middle and end of March, where singing males were not uncommon. 

 Neumann *" found it was an abundant winter bird in the middle and 

 more lofty highlands of Djamdjam, Kaffa, and Shoa. In Eritrea 

 and extreme northern Ethiopia the species is much more of a migrant 

 than a winter resident, according to Zedlitz.*^ 



Grote *- has summarized the published data on this bird and finds 

 it reaches the equatorial parts of East Africa as early as the latter 

 part of August, although the bulk of the autumn migration is in 

 September, and by October or early November the birds arrive in 

 South Africa. On the return migration the birds depart in March 

 and April and only a feAv stragglers are left by the first days of May. 

 Van Someren *^ has taken specimens as late as June in Kenya Colony, 

 but such birds are exceptionally late. 



8«Journ. fiir Orn., 1905, p. 735. 



sojourn, fiir Orn., 1906, p. 284. 



«Journ. fiir Orn.. 1911, p. 70. 



"Mltteil. Zool. Mils. Berlin, vol. 16, pt. 1, p. 24-25, 1930. 



«Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 233, 1922. 



