6o 



British Birds. 



Pallas's Willow-Warbler. 



PALLAS'S 

 WILLOW. WARBLER. 

 {Phylloscopus proi'i-gtthts.) 



j'ellow e3'ebro\v, and the under surface of the body 

 is ashy whitish, with a few streaks of yellow on the 

 breast, and the flanks are greenish, washed with 

 yellow. 



In Siberia the present species was found by 

 Seebohm frequenting the pine-forests, where it wa.s 

 very common. The nest was made of dr\- grass 

 and moss, and lined with reindeer hair, and 

 resembled that of the British Willow-Warbler, 

 being half domed. The eggs are white, spotted 

 with reddish-brown, more plentifully towards the 

 larger end. 

 This species inhabits South-eastern Siberia as well as 

 the Himalaya Mountains, and occurs in winter in the 

 Burmese provinces and Southern China, visiting South- 

 eastern Russia in the autumn migration. It resembles the 

 preceding species, but has a yellow rump, which is in strong contrast to its greenish 

 back. It has the same pale streak down the crown and the double wing-bar as in 

 P. supen-'diosHS. Although its presence has twice been detected in Heligoland, it 

 has been noticed but once in England, a specimen having been shot near Clay, in 

 Norfolk, on the 31st of October, i8g6. Like the Yellow-browed Warbler, the present 

 species frequents the pine-woods, and places its nest, which is slightl}- domed, on the 

 branch of a tree near the stem of the latter, the outside of the nest being covered 

 with moss and lichen, so as to resemble the colour of the branch on which it is 

 placed. The eggs are five in number, white, richly spotted with dark brownish-red, 

 the spots collecting towards the larger end. 



The Tree-Warblers are somewhat intermediate between 

 the Willow-Warblers 

 and the Reed-Warblers. 

 They have a more flat- 

 tened bill than the Phylloscopi, and on each side 

 of the gape are three weak rictal bristles. The 

 two species which concern us are clear yellow 

 underneath, and this character, along with the 

 shape of the bill, with its j-ellow under mandible, 

 is sufficient to distinguish both the British Tree- 

 Warblers from the members of the allied genus 

 Phylloscopus, while the pattern of the eggs is 

 quite different. 



The Common Tree-Warbler has been noticed 

 in England apparently about eight times, and The Common Tree-Warbler. 



THE COMMON 

 TREE-WARBLER. 

 {Hypolnis hypolais.) 



