298 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



From 185S until 1872 nothing further was heard about this 

 Warbler ; but, in the summer of the latter year, Alston and Harvie- 

 Brown met with it near Archangel. After that date it was observed 

 by Seebohm and Harvie-Brown, in June 1875, on the Lower 

 Petchora ; while in 1876, and during the following years, it was 

 discovered by Collett in Finmark, at the Porsanger and \Yaranger 

 Fjords, beyond 70° N. latitude, under conditions from which we 

 may conclude with safety that the sjDecies breeds in those districts. 



Neither nest nor eggs were known, however, until Seebohm 

 found them in 1877, during his expedition to the Lower Jenesei, in 

 latitude 67° N., in the latter district. From an example before me 

 of the only clutch in Seebohm's possession, it is at once character- 

 ised as the n'g^ of a Warbler. Its length is '67 in. (17 mm.): 

 breadth, "49 in. (12i ?n«i.) ; and it is rounded otf to an equal 

 extent towards both extremities. The shell is white, with a slight 

 gloss, and has a faint sprinkling of small spots, as light as those of 

 the eggs of S. frochilus, but in shade approaching more to a rich 

 pink than a reddish brown. 



The bird killed here, and in my collection, was in fresh autumn 

 plumage, in which, with the exception of .S'. tristis and S. fuscatus, 

 there occurs the least amount of sulphur yellow of any related 

 species of the same genus noted here. All the upper parts are of a 

 rather dusk}- greyish green, the colour being a little darker on the 

 head and slightly lighter on the rump. The lower parts, includmg 

 the under tail-coverts, are dull white ; the breast and sides clouded 

 with grey, and with a scarcely perceptible tinge of pale sulphur- 

 yellow everywhere. A sharply-defined eye-streak of pure whitish 

 sulphur-yellow extends from the bill to the back of the head ; this 

 does not gradually get duller as it runs backward, but ends quite 

 abruptly in its pure coloration. The wings on the outside are of 

 the same colour as the back, and have a dull light yellow band 

 formed by the spots on the tips of the lai-ge wing-coverts. 



The measurements of this species, as taken from the freshlj'- 

 killed bird, are as follows : Total length, 4-33 ins. (110 mm.) ; length 

 of wing in repose, 228 ins. (.58 mm.); length of tail, 1-65 in. (42 

 mm.) ; length of tail uncovered by wings, -51 in. (13 mm.). The 

 bill is very strong, and measures '43 in. (11 mm.), and the length 

 of the tarsus is '67 in. (17 77177!.). 



In the wing the second flight-feather is of the same length as 

 the sixth; the third, fourth, and the fifth — which is -04 in. (1 7?i77).) 

 shorter — form the tip of the wing. The tip of the longest posterior 

 flight-feather is 'oO in. (1.5 mm.) distant from the tip of the wing. 



The tail is double-rounded {doppclt ahgerundet), the central 

 and second lateral pair of feathers being -04 in. (1 7rt77i.) shorter 



