384 BRITISH BIRDS. 
nearly allied H. polyglotta, but are on an average larger and do not exhibit 
so many of the faint scratchy markings. 
The adult male Icterine Warbler in spring plumage has the general 
colour of the upper parts, including the lores, ear-coverts, and the sides of 
the neck, olive-green; a somewhat indistinct greenish-yellow eye-stripe 
extends from the base of the bill, losing itself behind the eye ; the quills 
are brown, narrowly edged and somewhat more broadly tipped with 
greenish white ; the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries are still more 
broadly edged with browner white ; the tail-feathers are brown, with very 
narrow pale edges and generally with very indistinct traces of transverse 
bars. The underparts, including the axillaries, are uniform greenish yellow, 
many of the feathers on the thighs and under wing-coverts having brown 
centres. Bill dark brown above, pale horn-colour below ; legs, feet, and 
claws bluish grey ; irides hazel. 
The female scarcely differs from the male. After the autumn moult, the 
olive-green of the upper parts is slightly greyer and the greenish yellow of 
the underparts paler and less green. Birds of the year scarcely differ from 
adults in autumn plumage. 
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