The Willow- Warbler. 99 



long retain his senses, if compelled daily, for months together, to listen to the 

 everlasting chiff-chiff, chiff-chiff, chiff-chiff of this little bird. Now and again as one 

 passes through a wood it is a pleasing change, as the triangle is in a concert ; 

 but imagine a concert going on for months consisting of no other instrument 

 than a triangle ; believe me, even that would be more pleasant than an ever- 

 lasting Chififchaff's song. 



Family— TURDID^. Subfamily—SYL VIIN^. 



The Willow-Warbler. 



Phylloscopus trochiliis, LiNN. 



GENERALLY distributed during the summer and breeding throughout 

 Western and Central Europe, southwards as far as the Straits of 

 Gibraltar, eastward in Transylvania. It visits South Russia, Turkey, 

 Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, and Palestine in winter and on migration ; but it 

 passes the winter chiefly in Africa from the Nile south-westwards as far as the 

 Cape, and south-eastwards to the Transvaal and Natal. A few, however, winter 

 in the south of France and Spain, and a few pass the summer in N.W. Africa. 



In Great Britain the Willow-Warbler is pretty generally distributed and 

 abundant, though in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland only locally common ; to the 

 Orkneys, Shetlands and Faroes it is apparently a mere straggler. 



This species is a much brighter and prettier bird than the Chififchaff: in 

 spring it is olive-green above with the rump yellower ; the wiug-coverts are 

 olive-brownish, with greener margins, the flights brown with narrow whitish tips; 

 and yellowish outer webs ; tail-feathers brown, with whitish inner and yellowish 

 outer edges ; a superciliary yellowish streak from the bill over the eye and ear- 

 coverts ; under parts yellowish, the chin, centre of throat, abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts white; the breast and flanks olivaceous yellow or olivaceous buff; 

 the axillaries, under wing-coverts and thighs yellow ; flights and tail below ashy- 



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