44 The Oologists^ Record, June i, 1921. 



nests I found in France were very similar, but usually much whiter 

 outside owing to the use of spiders' webs and sometimes light 

 coloured feathers and willow-down. They were also usually 

 lined with white hair, and I have not noticed hair in the lining of 

 Melodious Warblers' nests. The Melodious never, in my experience, 

 mimicked other birds, while the Icterine Warbler is a marvellous 

 mimic. Four is the normal complement of eggs for the Melodious, 

 and I twice found five. All the nests were found without dithculty 

 by beating gorse bushes where I saw birds of this species flying 

 around. 



The Western Olivaceous Warbler, Hippolais opaca {Licht.), is a 

 near relative of the Icterine Warbler, and I believe it to be a common 

 bird in Southern Spain, but in 1910 and 1911, owing to my ignorance 

 of the fact that such a species existed at all, and also to the fact that 

 it is a late breeder, I never found a nest or got to know the bird. 

 Between the 20th and 26th May, 191 1, four lots of eggs were brought 

 to me, when staying on the banks of the River Guadalquivir below 

 Seville, by small boys. Each set consisted of four eggs, and they 

 were all fresh. In my ignorance I imagined them to be eggs of the 

 Melodious Warbler, in spite of the ground colour being grey-white 

 instead of a delicate pink. On getting home, I soon had my error 

 pointed out to me by a well-known oologist, and there is really no 

 difficulty in identifying the eggs by their appearance. I imagine 

 that below Seville they nest in orchards and gardens near the banks 

 of the River Guadalquivir. 



Of the Phylloscopi I mention the Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus 

 trochilus (L.) and Wood Warbler, Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.) 

 in order to say that, whatever may be stated to the contrary in 

 Irby's " Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar," or in other works» 

 I am unable to agree that there is the slightest sign of either species 

 breeding anywhere in Andalucia. I know both species extremely 

 well, and spent a month in 1920 in a perfect wood for the Phylloscopi 

 and never saw the slightest sign or heard a note that resembled these 

 two species of Warblers. 



The Chiffchaft, Phylloscopus collybita {Vieillot), is a common 

 breeding species and I should not mention such a well-known bird 

 in these notes if it was not for the fact that, although the South 

 Spanish Chiffchaff is similar in appearance to the typical species, 

 it differs very appreciably in note and eggs. The note I cannot 

 describe clearly, but what strikes one at once is the absence of the 



