6o YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER. 



(Seebohm). Canon Tristram obtained it at Jericho ; and Severtzoff 

 found it nesting in Turkestan up to about 8,500 feet. 



The finding in Cashmere of a nest and eggs supposed to be those 

 of this species, was described by Mr. W. E. Brooks in ' The Ibis ' 

 for 1S72; and reproduced in the 4th Edition of ' Yarrell's British 

 Birds,' as well as in Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' ; but the 

 parent bird subsequently proved to be Ph. /iianii, a distinct species. 

 Mr. Seebohm had the good fortune to find the first authenticated 

 nest of the Yellow-browed Warbler, on June 26th 1877, in the 

 forest between the Kurayika and the Yenesei. It was built in a 

 slight tuft of moss and bilberries, semi-domed, exactly like the nest 

 of our Willow-Wren, and composed of dry grass and moss, with a 

 lining of reindeer-hair. The eggs, 6 in number, are described as 

 pure white, thickly spotted at the larger end with reddish-brown ; 

 measurements "6 in. by -45 in., and one of them is figured by Mr. 

 Seebohm on PI. 10 of his ' British Birds,' a work which contains the 

 best account extant of this Warbler. In its habits, says Mr. Gatke, 

 this bird has little afiinity with the restless Golden-crests, which it only 

 resembles in size and the double bar across the wings ; and in Heli- 

 goland it is universally known as the ' Barred Willow Warbler.' 

 When it alights on a tree, it begins at the lower branches and works 

 steadily up to the top, searching for its insect food, Mr. Gatke 

 describes the note as /lyi'/f, a little drawn out ; while a bird ob- 

 served by Mr. Seebohm — also on Heligoland — uttered a plaintive 

 7veest. 



The bird in autumn-plumage has the whole of the upper parts 

 a greenish-yellow ; on the centre of the crown of the head a pale 

 line ; a yellowish stripe over the eye from the base of the bill to 

 the occiput ; a short streak of the same colour beneath the eye, and 

 a narrow dusky band passing through the eye to the ear-coverts ; 

 under parts pale yellow ; the ridge of the wing bright lemon-colour ; 

 wing-feathers dusky, edged with pale yellow, becoming broader on 

 the secondaries; two conspicuous bands of lemon-colour across the 

 coverts : bill brown, paler at the base ; mouth yellow ; legs and toes 

 brown, with the under surface of the toes inclining to yellow. In 

 summer the green and yellow have largely suffered from abrasion, 

 and the general tints are olive-grey. Length 4 in. ; wing 2-1 in. 



The Yellow-browed Warbler was formerly known as the ' Dalma- 

 tian Regulus,' Regu/iis niodcs/iis, of Gould, described and figured in 

 his 'Birds of Europe'; but this proved to be P/i. proregiilus {Va\\?is), 

 an Asiatic species which has straggled to Heligoland, but is otherwise 

 unknown in Europe. 



