66 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Phylloscopi 



Of Larus marinus mostly dark-coloured young ones are to 

 be seen^ and L. canus and L. ridibundus, bearing now their 

 winter dress. L. minutus and Hmnatopus ost7'alegus we did 

 not see after leaving Berezoff, nor the Crane^ of which I 

 got a half-grown young bird on the 7th of September. Large 

 flocks of the last-named species were going south, and most 

 of the birds are already emigrating and bidding farewell to 

 the north. We are about to follow them, but in a western 

 direction and more slowly ; for we have still to travel about 

 2500 versts in a carriage to the first railway, at Nishni- 

 Novgorod, which will, we hope, take us safely and quickly 

 home. 



VI. — On the Phylloscopi or Willoto-Warblers. 

 By Henry Seebohm, F.Z.S. 



The Phylloscopi, or Willow- Warblers, are a group of about 

 thirty species of birds, the synonymy of which has hitherto 

 been in much confusion. The differences between many of the 

 species are very slight; and the descriptions of some of them are 

 so meagre, that it is difficult to determine to which they belong 

 without access to the type specimens. They may be described 

 as Warblers with more or less slender bills, varying in the 

 colour of their plumage from olive-green to brown in the 

 upper parts, and from yellow, with an occasional dash of buff 

 or green, to white underneath. Some of the stout-billed 

 species have bills as large and broad as those of the smaller 

 species of the genus Hypolals, whilst others have bills as small 

 and slender as in the genus Regulus. Others, again, approach 

 the more brilliantly coloured species of the genus Abrornis, 

 It is possible that a careful study of the allied genera may 

 lead to a rearrangement of the whole family ; but this ques- 

 tion must be left to a future paper. For our present purpose 

 it will be enough to point out the following distinctions be- 

 tween the various sections of Phylloscojms and the members 

 of the allied genus Hypolais ; — 



