THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 261 



the vent, of a brilliant chrome yellow. Moreover, the deep black 

 markings of the head extend in this species over the ear-coverts 

 and throat. In this species too the wing is abruptly rounded ; its 

 second tlight-feather very short, of the same length as the tenth . 

 the third and seventh are of equal length, and only '12 in. 

 (3 mni.) shorter than the fourth, tifth, and sixth, which form the 

 tip of the wing. The tail is almost squarely truncate, its outer- 

 most pair of feathers being only slightly shorter than the rest. 



The total length of this bird is cS07 ins. (205 mm.); length of 

 the wing, 3-74 ins. (95 mm.); length of tail, 3-73 ins. (9G mm.); 

 length of beak, '71 in. (IS mm.) ; length of tarsus, -94 in. 

 (24 mm.) 



The breeding range of this species is rather limited, extending 

 only over Arabia, Palestine, and Asia Minor as far as Greece and 

 the Archipelago. The eggs are very beautiful. The ground colour 

 is a reddish white, with a fiiirly large number of violet-grey 

 blotches, and a very rich marking of partly round, partly u-regular 

 violet-red spots and dots. In some of the eggs these markings are 

 evenly distributed, ua others they are somewhat accumulated at 

 the thick end. They are of a longitudinally pointed form, 1'02 in. 

 (36 mm.) long and -67 in. (17 mm..) broad. 



There is little doubt that another example of this species 

 occurred here about fifteen years ago. An old and trustworthy 

 fowler very nearly had got it in his throstle-bush, but the bird 

 managed to escape again. He described it as grey, with black 

 head, and yellow feathers below the tail, as yellow ' as dandelions ' 

 (Leontodon taraxacum). The time was late in May. 



Song-Birds — Sijlvia'. — Of the family of Song-birds remarkable 

 for its richness in individuals, about one hundred and fifty sjjecies 

 are distributed over all the temperate and warm countries of the 

 earth. These have come by degrees to be divided into more than 

 ten genera, which, however, in the present work, will all be cited 

 under their original designation as Sylvia?. Fifty of these species 

 are resident breeding birds in Europe, thirty-nine of whom visit 

 Heligoland in gi'eater or less numbers. Apart from these, how- 

 ever, some few others, belonging to Asia and America, have occurred 

 here, and in consequence have been newly added to European lists 

 as ' honorary citizens.' These are : — 



S. fuscatus, proregulus, coronata, viridana, nitidus, certhiola, 

 and virens. 



