u6 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. XI. 



wheatears * In England they are the earliest birds of passage 

 to arrive in spring, but of course they winter farther south 

 than the snow-buntings and shore-larks, and we might reason- 

 ably expect them to arrive later in such northerly breeding- 

 grounds. 



On the 22nd we added another familiar British migrant 

 to our list, the tree pipit,t a bird which usually arrives rather 

 late with us. A more important addition to our list was, 

 however, the Siberian chiffchafT,! a little warbler which was 



* The wheatear (>"axicola cen 

 Linn.) afterwards became rather com- 

 mon at Ust-Zylma. Farther north it 

 was rarer, but we saw it as far as 

 Dvoinik. In the British Islands the 

 wheatear is one of the earliest summer 

 migrants, arriving on the moors about 

 the middle of March. This species 

 I ireeds throughout Central and Northern 

 Europe as far north as land exists, 

 extending westwards as far as Green- 

 land, and eastwards across Siberia into 

 Alaska. In winter it is found in 

 Northern Africa, and probably Central 

 Africa; the Asiatic birds migrating to 

 Mongolia, Northern India, and Persia. 



t The tree pipit (Anthus trii 

 Linn.) is a common summer visitant 

 to the British Islands, and to the 

 northern and central portions of Eurdpe 

 and Asia, as far east as the watershed 

 <.i' the Yeriesay and the Lena. As we 

 only met with one example in the 

 valley of the Petchora, in latitude 65§°, 

 we were probably somewhat beyond 

 the ordinary limit of its northern 

 range. It passes through Southern 

 Europe on migration, wintering in 



North Africa, and 'having been met with 

 as far south as Kaffirland. Eastwards 

 it has been recorded from Persia and 

 India ; in the latter country it has, 

 however, generally been confounded 

 with a nearly allied species, Anthus 

 macalatus (Hodgs.), which is also found 

 in Eastern Siberia, China, and Japan, 

 and differs in being much greener on 

 the back, and more spotted on the 

 under parts. 



% The Siberian chiffchaff (Phyllo- 

 scopus tristis, Blyth) winters in the 

 plains of India and Beloochistan. A 

 few remain to breed in the Alpine 

 districts of the Himalayas and the 

 Karakorum mountains, whilst the main 

 body passes through Turkestan on 

 migration to their summer quarters 

 in Siberia, which extend from the val- 

 ley of the Petchora to Lake Baical. 

 We found it abundant on the willow- 

 covered islands of the delta of the 

 Petchora, and in 1877 I took several 

 of its nests and eggs in the valley of 

 the Yenesay. It is very similar in 

 size and in the proportion of its prima- 

 ries to the European chiffchaff, but the 



