PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 27 



yellow. The wing- and tail-quills are of a slightly darker brown than the rest of the 

 upper parts, and margined narrowly on the tail, and broadly on the inner secondaries 

 with a lighter olive-brown than the back ; the tail is furthermore faintly barred. 

 The under parts are whitish tinged on the throat and under tail-coverts with buff, 

 and on the fore-breast with olive-yellow. The flanks are of the same hue as the 

 back and unspotted. The throat is occasionally spotted, a character determined 

 apparently neither by sex nor season. The amount and intensity of the spotting 

 similarly varies. Length 5-4 in. [137 mm.]. The female is of an olive-umber above, 

 of a gamboge-olive below, fawn-coloured on the fore-breast, and whitish on the 

 abdomen. The juvenile plumage resembles that of the adults, but the upper 

 surface is more fulvous, the under side yellower ; in some the fore-breast is slightly 

 spotted, a character apparently due to sex. [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. This species is a summer visitor in the British Isles, and 

 also throughout continental Europe south of the Baltic and of about lat. 62 in 

 Russia, but it appears to be absent from Spain south of the Cantabrian range, from 

 Southern Italy and the Balkan Peninsula. Beyond the Urals and the Caucasus an 

 Eastern race (L. ncevia straminea) ranges at least as far as the Altai mountains. In 

 Great Britain it is locally and irregularly distributed in suitable spots south of the 

 Forth and Clyde areas, but becomes rare in the north of Scotland, although it has 

 been met with as far as Arisaig on the west. It is not confined to low ground, but 

 ascends the mountains up to 1500 ft. in Wales, and is locally plentiful in S. Northum- 

 berland, Durham, Norfolk, etc., but almost unknown in Cornwall. In Ireland it is 

 widely distributed, and only becomes scarce along the west coast. Outside its 

 breeding range it is found in autumn and winter in South Spain, but the chief 

 winter quarters of the species appear to be in Morocco and Algeria. [F. c. B. jr.] 



3. Migration. Although an annual summer visitor to our shores, this species is 

 of so skulking a disposition that the course of its migrations is very difficult to trace. 

 From its winter quarters in South Spain and North-west Africa it appears to arrive 

 in this country in small parties during the last ten days of April and the first week of 

 May. According to the B. 0. C. Migration Reports it enters along the eastern half 

 of the south coast and reaches its breeding haunts by following a course slightly 

 to the west of north. Of the autumn migration there are no records sufficient to 

 justify any general conclusions. It has been noticed on various dates between the 

 middle of August and the 10th of October, but probably, as in the case of other 

 species, our native birds leave very early, possibly in July, and these late records 

 are those of Continental examples, [j. L. B.] 



