38.2 BRITISH BIRDS. 



common summer visitor to the north of France, Belgium, Holland, 

 Germany, Italy, and Sicily, but is very rare in the south of France, and 

 entirely absent from Spain. It is common in Denmark, the Baltic 

 Provinces, and South Scandinavia, but becomes much rarer further north, 

 the limit of its range in Norway being lat. 67 and in Sweden and West 

 Russia about 65. On the Urals it is said only to range as far north as 

 57 ; and it has been recorded east of those mountains from the valley of 

 the Tobol. It is common in Central Russia ; but in South Russia it is very 

 rare, and it has not been recorded from the Caucasus. It passes through 

 Greece, Asia Minor, and North Africa on migration, and winters in South 

 Africa, whence it has been received in collections from Ovampo, Damara 

 Land, and the Bechuana country. 



The Icterine Warbler or Common Tree-Warbler is sometimes known by 

 the misleading name of the Melodious Willow-Warbler. Its song is by no 

 means specially melodious. It has great power, wonderful variety, and 

 considerable compass, but is singularly deficient in melody. Nor is the 

 bird by any means a Willow- Warbler. The Tree- Warblers are a group 

 probably more nearly allied to the Reed-Warblers. 



Like most European migrants which seldom or never visit our islands, 

 the Common Tree-Warbler arrives very late at its breeding-grounds. I 

 first made its acquaintance at Valconswaard in 1876. We had been nearly 

 a fortnight in the village, and had identified seventy-six species of birds, 

 besides taking a great number of nests, but no trace of the Common Tree- 

 Warbler was to be found. At length, about the middle of May, a new 

 song was heard, evidently that of a newly arrived Warbler, who screamed 

 and warbled and chuckled and sang voluminously. On the 23rd of May 

 it had become quite abundant, and its song resounded in every hedgerow 

 and garden ; and we shot two, which both proved to be male Common 

 Tree- Warblers. It was not until the 28th that we found a nest, containing 

 only one egg. A second nest was brought us on the same day, containing 

 four eggs. Since then I have seen more or less of the bird almost every 

 year, and last spring had another opportunity of watching for its arrival. 

 In the neighbourhood of Brunswick the bird arrived in the first week of 

 May, and by the 6th the males were in full song. The weather was mild ; 

 and as Oberamtmann Nehrkorn and I sat smoking our cigars on a bench 

 in his garden, we listened to one of these birds Spottvogel (Mocking- 

 Birds) the Germans call them hour after hour. He did not seem very 

 anxious to feed ; but, perched on a branch, he sang and then apparently 

 listened. Then he flew to another twig and sang and listened, evidently 

 eagerly awaiting the arrival of his mate. The song is somewhat harsh, but 

 very varied, although he repeats every combination of notes two or three 

 times over in rapid succession, like a Song-Thrush. Indeed one might 

 imagine that he had been taught to sing by that bird, exactly as one might 



