426 BRITISH BIRDS. 
PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILATRIX. 
WOOD-WREN. 
(Pirate 10.) 
Ficedula asilus major, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 482 (1760), 
Motacilla sibilatrix, Bechst. Naturforscher, xxvii. p. 47 (1793); id. Naturg. Deutschl. 
iv. p. 688 (1795). 
Sylvia sylvicola, Mont. Trans. Linn. Soc, iv. p. 35 (1798). 
Syivia sibilatrix (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 176 (1802); et auctorum 
plurimorum — Temminck, Naumann, Bonaparte, Gray, (Schlegel), (Gould), 
(Dresser), (Newton), Se. 
Motacilla sylvatica, Turton, Gen. Syst. Nat. i. p. 587 (1806). 
Ficedula sibilatrix (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 159 (1816). 
Trochilus major, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817). 
Curruca sibilatrix (Bechst.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 70 (1828). 
Sibilatrix sibilatrix (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 98 (1829). 
Phyllopneuste sibilatrix (Bechst.), Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 425 (1881). 
Phyllopneuste megarhynchos, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 425 (1831). 
Phyllopneuste sylvicola (Lath.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 426 (1851). 
Sylvicola sibilatrix (Bechst.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 14 (1836). 
Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 184 (1849). 
Phyllopseuste sibilatrix (Bechst.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 33 (1850). 
The Wood-Wren, though the largest species of Willow-Warbler, and 
perhaps the handsomest of the group, and certainly possessing the most 
marked song and the most peculiar call-notes, appears to have escaped the 
attention of Linneus. Gilbert White, in his ‘ Natural History of Sel- 
borne,’ clearly points out, apparently for the first time, the distinctness of 
this charming bird from the Willow-Wren and the Chiffchaff; but it was 
described as long ago as 1676 by Willughby and Ray, who had received 
an example from their friend Mr. Francis Jessop of Sheffield, on whose 
property the bird was probably as common as it is now, in spite of the 
close proximity of the villas of the steel-makers. 
Though somewhat more local than its near allies, it is by no means un- 
common in England and Wales. In Scotland it has not been recorded 
north of the Moray Firth; but our information on the ornithology of this 
district is so meagre that it may have been overlooked. In Ireland it is 
only known to have occurred in the counties of Fermanagh and Dublin. 
On the continent its range is even more restricted than that of the Chiff- 
chaff. It is not known to have been obtained in Norway ; but in Sweden 
it is found as far north as Upsala. It is very common in the Baltie pro- 
vinces, but is rarer in South Finland. Though Alston and Harvie-Brown 
were mistaken in supposing that they found it near Archangel, it is recorded 
by Hencke as a rare summer visitor to that locality. It is common in 
