THE WARBLERS 1671 



gardens of Spain or across the straits, the furze wren is in the height of its enjoy- 

 ment. I have seen them by dozens skipping about the furze, lighting for a moment 

 upon the very point of the sprigs and instantly diving out of sight again, singing 

 out their angry impatient ditty for ever the same. They prefer those places where 

 the furze is very thick, high, and difficult to get in." The egg of the Dartford 

 warbler is white or buff in ground color, suffused with olive or reddish brown. The 

 song of the male is livel)', and often uttered upon the wing. The nestlings which 

 Montagu reared began to sing as soon as they assumed adult plumage. The plum- 

 age of the adult male is very dark sooty brown, shading into slate gray on the head; 

 tail dark gray, the outside feathers tipped with white; the under parts are chestnut 

 brow r n, shading into white on the centre of the belly, and having the feathers of the 

 chin and upper throat tipped with white; the under tail coverts are gray tipped with 

 white. 



The yellow-browed warbler {Phylloscopus snperciliosus} , figured 

 e l )w on p. 1680, is an example of a genus differing from the preced- 

 ing by the supplemental bristles in front of those of the rictus of the 

 gape being stronger and more numerous, while the beak is short and stout. The 

 genus includes the chiff-chaff (P. collybita), wood wren (/>. sibilatrix}, willow wren 

 (P. trochilus), etc. The yellow -browed warbler passes the summer in North 

 Siberia, where Mr. Seebohm first discovered its eggs, of which he gives the follow- 

 ing account: "As we were walking along a little bird started up near us, and 

 began most persistently to utter the alarm note of the yellow-browed warbler, a 

 note which I had learned in Gaetke's garden in Heligoland. As it kept flying 

 around us from tree to tree we naturally came to the conclusion that it had a nest 

 near. We searched for some time unsuccessfully, and then retired to a short dis- 

 tance and sat down upon a tree trunk to watch. The bird was very uneasy, but 

 continually came back to a birch tree, frequently making several short flights 

 toward the ground, as if it were anxious to go into its nest but dare not while we 

 were in sight. This went on for about half an hour, when we came to the conclu- 

 sion that the treasure we were in search of must be within a few yards of the birch 

 tree, and we again commenced a search. In less than five minutes I found the nest 

 with six eggs in it. It was built in a slight tuft of grass, moss, and bilberries, semi- 

 domed exactly like the nests of our willow warblers. It was composed of dry grass 

 and moss ends lined with reindeer hair. The eggs were very similar in color to 

 that of our willow warbler, but were rather more spotted and smaller in size. ' ' The 

 yellow-browed warbler occasionally straggles into Europe on the autumnal migra- 

 tion. The adult male has the upper parts olive green; a well-defined narrow 

 greenish-yellow eye stripe extends over the eyes; the wing coverts are tipped with 

 yellow, forming two bars across the wings; the wing quills and tail are brown, and 

 the lower parts white, suffused with yellowish green. 



As an example of another genus differing from Sylvia by the length 

 ^ e . . of the beak from the gape exceeding (instead of falling short of) 

 the third toe and its claw, may be mentioned the icterine warbler 

 (Hypolais philomela); eight other species of the genus being known. Annually vis- 

 iting temperate Europe south of the Baltic, the icterine warbler is a graceful slender 



