PHYLLOSCOPUS. 239 



Length. Male, 6-5 inches; expanse 975 ; tail from vent 2*62 ; wing 3-3; 

 tarsus O'97 ; bill at front 0*77 ; bill at gape 0*87. 



Length. Female, 7-5 inches; expanse 10-62; tail 2-62; wing 3-5 ; tarsus 

 1-03 ; bill at front ro8 ; bill from gape 0*93 ; mid-toe and claw 0-87 ; hind-toe 

 and claw 0-56. 



" The first quill is about 075 long ; the third quill is longest ; the second 

 and fourth, which are nearly equal, about o'O6 shorter; the fifth about 0-25 

 shorter, tail somewhat rounded ; outer tail feathers about 0-35, shorter than 

 those next the central pair, which latter are shorter than those next them by 

 about 0-15; the frontal feathers are prolonged over the base of the bill, 

 extending laterally quite to the nostrils ; legs and feet dusky or livid fleshy ; 

 irides dark brown ; bill dusky brown ; lower mandible yellowish, fleshy at the 

 base." 



Hab. Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Persia, Sind, Kutch, Jodhpore and 

 North Guzerat, visiting Sind in the course of its migration about the middle of 

 September. 



Gen. PhylloSCOpUS. Boie; WILLOW-\VARBLERS. 



Bill Acrocephaline, pale underneath, slender, small, straight, with a few 

 short rictal bristles ; wings long, flat, and pointed, or short and rounded as in 

 those which inhabit the plains and breed in the mountains near by; bastard 

 primary small ; greater wing coverts with pale tips in the spring plumage ; 

 axillarics and imder wing coverts yellow. 



This genus comprises a group of birds, mostly of small size, familiarly 

 known as Willow or Tree Warblers, tolerably abundant throughout India 

 during winter a very few only of which are known to breed in the Himalayas. 

 They are exclusively fly-catchers or insectivorous, feeding on minute insects 

 and flies, which they pick off leaves and branches or capture in the air, and 

 may be said to be strictly arboreal. The majority have their summer resi- 

 dence in Europe or Western Asia, and migrate thousands of miles in winter. 

 Seebohm says : "In their breeding range these birds are palaearctic, ranging 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, one species being known even to cross 

 Behring's Straits into Alaska." Those which breed in the Himalayas ascend 

 till they reach a palaearctic climate. 



No mesial line on the crown. 



282. PhyllOSCOpUS borealiS, (Bias) Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 69; 

 Dresser, B. Eur. ii. p. 509; Hume and Dav., vi. p. 352 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. 

 p. 102; Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 9> *'<? ^ at - & ^ r ' Mus. v. p. 40; Oaies, 

 Str. F. x. p. 222; id. B. Burm. i. p. 77. Phyllopneuste borealis, Bias. 

 Naum. 1858, p. 3 1 3. The ARCTIC WILLOW-WARBLER. 



