yo ICTERINE WARBLER, 



Germany, Holland and Belgium, it is common I'rom the middle of 

 May until autumn. In the north-east of France it is very abun- 

 dant, and extends westward as far, perhaps, as the mouth of the 

 Somme ; to the west of which we find a very closely allied species, 

 H. polyglotta, often confounded with our bird both as regards speci- 

 mens and nomenclature. H. polyglotta is common round Paris 

 and generally west of the line of the Seine, as well as in the 

 southern provinces ; it is also the only one of the two found, as yet, 

 in Portugal, Spain, and North-western Africa. As its appearance in 

 this country, sooner or later, is highly probable, its distinctive 

 characters are pointed out below. 



The nest, generally placed in the fork of a small tree or Hlac 

 bush in a slightly moist locality, is a firm, deep, and often beautiful 

 structure of dry grass, wool, thistle-down, lichens &c., lined with 

 horsehair. The eggs, usually 4-5, are dull rose-pink, blotched, and 

 sometimes scrolled with dark purplish-brown : average measurements 

 •72 by '55 in. In Holland incubation begins about the end of May 

 or early in June. Almost every garden contains a pair, and the 

 presence of an intruder of his own, or any other small species, is 

 promptly resented by the male. The song has been much admired 

 for its variety, and its supposed imitation of the notes of other 

 birds — whence the German name Spottvogel or Mocking-bird ; but 

 Mr. Seebohm, who is gifted with a fine ear for notes and who has 

 enjoyed considerable experience, can see no reason for supposing 

 the bird to be more of a mocker than the Song-Thrush or the Night- 

 ingale. When the nest is approached a soft pi-ti-u-y is uttered ; 

 the alarm-note being an angry tek, tek, fek. The food of the Icterine 

 Warbler is principally insects and small snails, -but in summer and 

 autumn fruit and berries are freely consumed. 



The adult male in spring has the lores and a streak over the eye 

 yellow ; upper parts greyish-olive ; quills brown, broadly margined 

 and tipped with bufiish-white on the secondaries ; tail brown, slightly 

 tipped with buff; under parts lemon-yellow; bill, brown above, 

 yellowish below ; legs and feet slate-brown. Length 5 in. ; wing 

 3*1 in. The female is a trifle paler ; the young browner, with wider 

 pale margins to the wing-feathers. 



Its western representative H. polyglotta is decidedly smaller, the 

 wing measuring only 2*5 in. ; the inner wing-feathers have much 

 narrower, and indeed hardly any, pale margins; and the bastard 

 primary is larger. 



