379 



PHYLLOPNEUSTE HIPPOLAIS. THE SHORT- 

 WINGED WOODWREN, OR CHIFF-CHAFF. 



CHIP-CHOP, HAY BIRD. 



Sylvia Hippolais. Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 507. 



Lesser Pettychaps. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Bee-fin veloee. Sylvia rufa. Temm. Man. d'Orn. I. 225. 



Lesser Pettychaps. Sylvia Hippolais. Selb. Illustr. I. 222- 



Sylvia Hippolais. Chiff-chaff. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 111. 



Length about four inches and a half ; icings rather short, the 

 second quill about the same length as the seventh ; tipper parts 

 light greenish-broion tinged icith grey, the feathers slightly edged 

 with yellowish-green ; lower broicnish-ichite, tinged with yellow. 



Male. — This species closely resembles the Willow Wood- 

 wren in colour, and is nearly equal in size, but may be easily 

 distinguished by its shorter and more rounded wings. In form 

 it seems intermediate between the other Woodwrens and the 

 Reguli or Kinglets. Its bill is short, very slender, depressed 

 at the base, its upper outline convex toward the end, the notches 

 very faint, the edges thin and inclined outwards, the tip acute. 

 The head is ovate, rather depressed in front ; the neck short ; 

 the body slender ; the feet of moderate length ; the tarsus 

 much compressed, with only the three lower scutella distinct ; 

 the hind toe proportionally stouter, the inner slightly shorter 

 than the outer, the claws arched, extremely compressed, acute. 



The plumage is very soft and blended, as in the other spe- 

 cies. The bristles at the base of the bill are pretty distinct. 

 The wings are of moderate length, much more rounded than 

 in the Willow Woodwren, the second quill being a quarter 

 of an inch shorter than the third, which is equal to the fifth, 

 and slightly exceeded by the fourth, while the seventh is rather 



