The Oologists' Record, *Jnne i, 1921. 4.5 



" chaff " in the well-known " chiff-chaff " refrain. Instead of the 

 second note there is a series of four or five descending ones, and any 

 ornithologist who knows the notes of common birds can at once 

 detect the difference between this bird and its British representative. 

 The nests I found in the last two weeks of April were typical Chiff- 

 chaffs' and were suspended in brambles or brambles and fern about 

 I to 3 feet*from the ground. The eggs were cither four or five in 

 number, and all the eggs I have seen are remarkable for the fact that 

 the spots are larger as compared with those found in Britain and 

 are more evenly distributed all over the eggs. They are also much 

 lighter in colour, in fact the spots in one case were quite pink, and 

 the eggs greatly resembled those of certain types of the Willow 

 Warbler. Never have I seen the typical very dark, small and almost 

 black-spotted type that we have normally in Britain. I am glad 

 to say that my friend, that well-known ornithologist Captain 

 Hubert Lyncs, discovered these differences in the Spanish Chiffchaff 

 independently of me, near Gibraltar, some years ago and wrote a 

 paper on the subject for the " Ibis." The result of our independent 

 observations is that we both completely agree as to the differences 

 I have endeavoured to describe. The only solution I can offer for 

 these differences, is that presumably the Andalucian Chiffchaff 

 is a resident and is gradually becoming a sub-species, but has not 

 yet differentiated from the normal type except as to note and eggs. 

 Bonelli's Warbler, Phylloscopus bbnelli [Vieillot) is extremely 

 common in South Spain and takes the place of its more northern 

 relative, the Wood Warbler. In some ways they are not unlike 

 and the song of the former has a distinct family resemblance to that 

 of our own bird, but it is rather a feeble imitation without any of 

 the shivering trills of the Wood Warbler. The ten nests I found in 

 1920 were in almost every case extremely well concealed on trackside 

 banks in a wood (tracks formed by mules and rains), but two (?r 

 three were on slightly sloping banks among trees in the wood, and 

 one was practically on the flat ground in the same wood. Man\' 

 of the nests were extremely sketchy, and when placed in a natural 

 recess had very little dome. Absolutely no feathers were used, and 

 in many cases there was no hair in the lining. The normal lining 

 was of fine fibrous black rootlets. In the few cases where there 

 was hair there were only a very few strands, and it was always 

 black. Nests were easy enough to find by noticing any bird that 

 sounded its mournful alarm note (different but not unlike the Wood 



