Perching Birds. 



59 



The Greenish Willow-Warbler. 



THE GREENISH 

 WILLOW- WARBLER. 



{Phylhscofus viridanus.) 



nest is placed close to the ground, 

 and is composed of dry grass, some- 

 times half-domed, and is lined with 

 feathers. Occasionally the nest is 

 to be found at a height of some 

 few feet from the ground. The 

 eggs are from five to seven in 

 number, white, with well-marked 

 spots of chocolate or reddish-brown, 

 inclining to purplish-brown or 

 black, with underlying spots of 

 violet-grej'. 

 This species has only once been obtained in Great 

 Britain, a single individual having been shot on the 

 Lincolnshire coast by Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh, on the 

 5th of September, iSg6. It is an Asiatic species, breeding 

 in the mountains of Central Asia and the Himalayas, and also in Europe in North 

 East Russia and the Ural Mountains. It has been noticed on three occasions in 

 Heligoland, and so there is nothing ver}' surprising in its occasional wandering to 

 Great Britain. 



In appearance the species is very like our Willow- Warbler, but is greener on the 

 upper surface and is distinguished by the yellowish-white tips to the greater wing- 

 coverts, which form a distinct wing-bar. The under parts are pale greenish-yellow, 

 with the axillaries and under wing-coverts pale yellow. In its breeding home this 

 little Warbler is said to frequent willow-bushes and the tall steppe-grass. By some 

 observers its song has been recorded as feeble, but by others it is stated to ha\-e a 

 very powerful song. The nest is placed on the ground and 

 is domed, but the eggs are as 3'et unknown. 



Although a freciuent visitor to 

 the island of Heligoland, this 

 small Warbler is of rare occur- 

 rence in Great Britain, where less 

 than a dozen specimens have hitherto been recorded, though 

 it has been met with in different parts of the United King- 

 dom. It nests throughout Siberia, and its winter home is 

 in China, Borneo and India. 



It is a tiny species, scarcely larger than a Gold-cre.st, 

 olive green in colour, with an indistinct line of yellow down 

 the centre of the crown, and shewing a double wing-band 

 of yellow, caused by the yellow tips to the median and 

 greater wing-coverts. It has, moreover, a distinct pale 



THE YELLOW-BROWED 



WILLOW-WARBLER. 

 [Phylloscopiis superciliosus.) 



The Yellow- Browed 



WiLI fnv-\\'AKHM"K. 



