THE WILLOW-WARBLERS. 211 



The late Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, used to affiim that 

 there was a second species of Willow-Warbler in England, which 

 built a nest off the ground, sometimes at a height of a few feet, 

 had a different song, and laid a dUTerent coloured egg. At our 

 request he procured us a nest of this "intermediate" Willow- 

 Warbler, as he called it. The nest was taken from the rubbish 

 and the runners near the base of a tree. It is similarly con- 

 structed to the one described, but has perhaps not quite so 

 many stems of dead grass. The eggs are sprinkled all over with 

 reddish spots, belonging to the type first-mentioned above, while 

 those which he forwarded as the eggs of the true Willow- 

 Warbler are more sparsely dotted with darker and larger spots, 

 as in the second type of egg mentioned in the description. We 

 have not been able to detect any difference in the colour of the 

 birds which Mr. Swaysland sent as belonging to the two forms 

 of Willow-Warbler, but the subject is worth the attention of 

 some of our field-naturalists ; though the explanation is pro- 

 bably that, like the Chiffchaff, the Willow-Warbler not un- 

 frequently builds its nest away from the ground. 



THE CHIFFCHAFF. PHYLLOSCOPUS MINOR. 



Sylvia rufa (nee. Bodd.), BechsL, Orn. Taschenb., i., p. 188 



(1802). 



Trochilus minor, Forst., Syn. Cat. Br. B., p. 54 (1817). 

 PkyllopneusU hippolais (nee. L.), Macg., Br. B., n, p. 379 



(1839). 

 Phylloscopus collybita (V.), Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 437 (1873) > 



Dresser, B/Eur., p. 488, pi. 76 (1879). 

 Phylloscopus rufus (Bechst.), Seeb., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., x., p. 



60 (1881); id.' Br. B., i., p. 435 (1883) ; B. O. U. List 



Br. B., p. 1 6 (1883) ; Saunders, Man., p. 61 (1889). 

 Phylloscopus collybista, Salvad., Elench. Ucc. Ital. p. 134 



(1886). 

 Phylloscopus minor, Lilford, Col. Fig., Br. B., pt. v. (1887). 



Adult Male. General colour above dull olive-green, slightly 

 clearer olive on the rump; wing-coverts and quills dusky brown, 

 edged with olive-green like the back ; tail-feathers also dusky 

 brown, very slightly margined with olive ; crown of head uni- 

 form with the back; a narrow eyebrow of greyish-white, slightly 



P 2 



