CHIFF-CHAFF 



501 



Less completely a denizen of the woods than the last species, the 

 willow-wren, during the breeding-season, may be at once distinguished 

 from the chiff-chaff by its song, which is more like that of the wood- 

 wren. On the other hand, it differs from the latter, and resembles the 

 chiff-chafif in lining its nest with feathers in place of hair ; while it 

 agrees with the wood-wren, and differs from the chiff-chaff in having 

 its legs brownish flesh-colour in place of dark brown. The five to 

 eight white or creamy-white eggs are either speckled with reddish dots 

 or marked by larger spots of the same colour which sometimes pass 

 into blotches. 



Chiff-ChafT 



(Phylloseopus 



minor). 



the willow-wren. 



The well-known and oft-repeated two-syllabled note, 

 from which it takes its name, renders the male chiff- 

 chaff in its breeding-haunts readily distinguishable, 

 as already mentioned, from its slightly larger cousin 

 In length the chiff-chaff measures rather more than 



4^ inches ; and the species is distinguishable from the willow-wren by 

 the fact that the sixth primary wing-quill has its outer web scalloped, 

 while the second is intermediate 

 in length between the sixth and 

 the ninth. As regards colour, 

 the upper surface is olive-green, 

 yellower on the loins than else- 

 where ; the eyebrow -streak is 

 pale yellow ; the wing and tail- 

 feathers are dark brown with 

 olive-green margins ; and the 

 under surface is dull white with 

 a tinge of greenish buff. Young 

 birds are greener than their 

 parents, with a paler eyebrow- 

 streak. 



The fact that it puts in 

 an earlier appearance than the 



willow-wren, arriving in England by the middle of March, and staying 

 till September or October, may account for the more restricted northern 

 range of the chiff-chaff, which in Scandinavia and Russia does not 

 extend beyond latitude 65', or somewhat short of the Arctic Circle. 

 Its eastern range, too, is much more limited, not extending beyond 

 the Petchora valley and the Perm province of Russia, although it 

 should be borne in mind that the eastern chiff-chaff, by which it is 



CHIFF-CHAFF. 



