300 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



unusually strong. The coloration of the upper parts is not so 

 dull as in the latter species, but is of a lighter greyish green, and 

 the whole underside is of a rather intense dull greenish yellow 

 colour. The eye-streak is sharply defined and light sulphur yellow; 

 the dull greyish yellow band on the wing stretches over the tips of 

 the first four or five greater wing- coverts. 



The measurements of the bird are as follows : Total length, 

 4'33 ins. (110 mm.); length of wings, 2'44 ins. (62 mm.); length of 

 tail, T85 in. (47 mm.); length of tail uncovered by wings, '75 in. 

 (19 mm.). These measurements refer to the male; those of the 

 female are somewhat smaller. The bill measures -27 in. (7 mm.), 

 and the tarsus '71 in. (18 mm.). 



In the wing the second flight-feather is of the same length as 

 the seventh (in small females it is equal to the eighth). The third, 

 fourth, and fifth are of equal length, and form the tip of the wing, 

 the sixth receding only very slightly from the latter. 



Seebohm states that S. viridanus nests in Kashmir, and 

 S. plumbeitarsus the validity of which, as a species, he much 

 doubts from Turkestan to the Amur. We may accordingly 

 regard central Asia as the breeding area of this species. 



114. Bright-green Tree Warbler [GELBEK LAUBVOGEL]. 

 SYLVIA NITIDA, Blyth. 1 



Phylloscopus nitidus. Seebohm, Cat. of Birds of Brit. Mus., ii. 43. 



Bright-green Tree Warbler. Jerdon, Birds of India, ii. 193. 



This Warbler from south-eastern Asia a species entirely new to 

 Europe was shot by my son Ludwig on the llth of October 1867, 

 and forms certainly one of the most interesting specimens in my 

 collection. A Sylvia superciliosa had been seen on the same day, 

 and my son was searching through the garden for it, when in place 

 of it he came across this valuable acquisition to the avifauna of 

 Heligoland. What, however, could have induced a bird, never met 

 with north-west of the Himalayas, to exchange the palms of the 

 Ganges for this barren cliff of the Northern Sea, is, indeed, difficult 

 to conjecture. 



All that is known up to the present time in regard to this rare 

 stranger is limited to some scattered observations of English in- 

 vestigators. Seebohm, in the Catalogue of the Birds of the British 

 Museum, sums it up as follows : ' The bird probably breeds in the 

 north-western Himalaya, and winters in Bengal, northern India, 

 and Ceylon.' 



1 Phylloscopus nitidus (Blyth). 



