502 PERCHING BIRDS 



replaced be\'ond this limit, may perhaps be best regarded merel}' as a 

 local race. 



Although rare in the north of Scotland, and apparently known 

 only as stragglers to the Orkne}'s and Shetlands, chiff-chaffs are to 

 be found all over the British mainland, but are at the same time 

 decidedly local and less common than willow-wrens. Occasionally 

 they elect to spend the winter with us, one being taken in Somerset- 

 shire a few days after Christmas in 1892, and a second a few days 

 earlier than that festival in Northumberland in 1905. The species is 

 generally distributed throughout the wooded districts of Ireland. 



A more shy and retiring bird than the willow-wren, the chiff-chaff 

 makes its presence known rather by its note than b}- showing itself in 

 the open. Although often placed on the ground, the chiff-chaff's nest 

 may be built in a low bush ; and while sometimes half covered with a 

 roof, on other occasions is a mere cup. The absence of any moss in 

 its composition, as well as the scantiness of the feather-lining, serves 

 to distinguish it from that of the willow-wren. From five to seven is 

 the number of eggs in a clutch, these being marked either with small 

 speckles or larger spots varying in colour from chocolate to purplish 

 or blackish brown. The species is also called Pliylloscopiis rnfiis. 



An example of the Siberian chiff-chaff {^PJiylloscopiis tristis), a 

 smaller and browner bird than our species, with buffish-white under- 

 parts and very dark shanks, was taken at Sule Skerry lighthouse, 

 west of Orkney, in September 1902, and a second in Orkney in 1907, 

 while three were killed in Yk\x Isle in the latter j-ear. 



The yellow-browed warbler i^Pliylloscopus snpeniliosiis) of Siberia, 

 which is a smaller bird than either of the preceding species, measuring 

 not more than 4 inches in length, was recorded on nine or ten occasions 

 only in Great Britain and Ireland during the past century, although in 

 one of these instances three, and in a second, four individuals, were in 

 company. The localities include the Scilly Islands in the south and 

 the Shetlands in the north, Ireland claiming one example. This 

 species, which in winter visits India, China, Japan, and Formosa, takes 

 its name from the greenish -\-ellow c\-ebrow-streak, and is further 

 characterised by a very indistinct greenish-grey stripe on the crown of 

 the head and two yellow wing-bars. It is sometimes known as the 

 crowned willow-wren. Specimens were taken or seen in Britain in 

 1905 and 1906, while several were observed in Fair Isle in 1907. 



Nearly related to ihe last is Pallas's willow-wren, or willow- 

 warbler {ritylloscopus prorrj^it/ns), normally ranging from northern 

 China, Siberia, and the Himalaya to the western slopes of the Urals, 



