18 THE WARBLERS 



sulphur-yellow colour of the superciliary streak, throat and flanks, by the short 

 "bastard quill " or first primary, which does not exceed the major coverts of the 

 primaries, and by the fact that only the third and fourth primaries have the vane 

 emarginate. It is also brighter in coloration. (PI. 53.) The upper parts are of a 

 yellowish olive-green, rather brighter on the rump ; the wings and tail feathers are 

 dusky brown edged with yellowish green, markedly so on the inner secondaries 

 which have a whitish fringe at their ends, as also have the primaries and tail 

 feathers. Above the eye is a broad band of sulphur-yellow. The under parts are 

 white, with the exception of the throat, which is of a clear sulphur-yellow, and 

 the flanks, which are ashy grey washed with sulphur-yellow ; the breast has a 

 faint greyish tinge. Length 5'2 in. [132 mm.]. The female is rather duller than 

 the male. There is no marked seasonal change of plumage. The juvenile plumage 

 differs from that of the adult in being greener above and yellow below, [w. P. P.] 



3. Distribution. As a breeding species the wood-warbler is somewhat locally 

 distributed in the British Isles and the greater part of Europe in summer, but is not 

 met with in North Scandinavia or North Russia, while in the countries bordering 

 on the Mediterranean as well as North-west Africa a Southern race occurs, whose 

 limits are as yet undefined. In the British Isles it is chiefly confined to woodlands, 

 especially where oak and beech are the prevalent trees, and there is undergrowth of 

 bracken, but is decidedly local, and absent from W. Cornwall and Pembroke, though 

 plentiful in parts of North Wales and Northumbria. In Scotland it has apparently 

 increased its range, owing to the spread of plantations and breeds in suitable localities 

 to Sutherland and Caithness, while it has been met with even in the Outer Hebrides. 

 On the other hand, it is only a rare visitor to Ireland, but has bred in Queen's Co., 

 Galway, and probably also Wicklow. Outside its breeding range it occurs in Africa 

 on the west side as far south as the shores of the Gulf of Guinea and the River 

 Congo ; while on the eastern side either this or the southern race penetrates to 

 S. Arabia and up the Nile Valley to Abyssinia. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. This species, which is only a summer visitor to our shores, is 

 usually first seen during the latter half of April, but it is not until the first fortnight 

 of May that it arrives in any considerable numbers. As its winter quarters appear 

 to be along the West of Africa, or chiefly so, it is not surprising that our native birds 

 arrive chiefly on our south-west coast. The average direction of then- line of flight 

 appears to be north-eastwards. There is no evidence of the route followed on 

 the return migration, and records during the autumn are very scanty. The 

 absence of notes during the height of the migratory season and such records as have 



