426 BRITISH BIRDS. 



PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILATRIX. 



WOOD-WREN. 



(PLATE 10.) 



Ficedula asilus major, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 482 (1760). 



Motacilla sibilatrix, Bechst. Naturforscher, xxvii. p. 47 (1793) ; id. Naturg. Deiftschl. 



iv. p. 888 (1795). 



Sylvia sylvicola, Mont. Trans. Linn. Soc. iv. p. 35 (1798). 

 Sylvia sibilatrix (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 170 (1802) ; et auctorum 



plurimorum Temminck, Naumann, Bonaparte, Gray, (Schlegel), (Gould), 



(Dresser), (Newton), fyc. 



MotaciUa sylvatica, Turton, Gen. Syst. Nat. i. p. 587 (1800). 

 Ficedula sibilatrix (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 159 (1816). 

 Trochilus major, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817). 

 Curruca sibilatrix (Bechst.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 70 (1828). 

 Sibilatrix sibilatrix (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 98 (1829). 

 Phyllopneuste sibilatrix (Bechst.), Brelim, Vo'g. Deutschl. p. 425 (1831). 

 Phyllopneuste megarhynclios, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 425 (1831). 

 Phyllopneuste sylvicola (Lath.), Brehm, Vo'y. Deutschl. p. 420 (1831). 

 Sylvicola sibilatrix (Bechst.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 14 (1836). 

 Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.), Bh/th, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 184 (1849). 

 Phyllopseuste sibilatrix (Bechst.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 33 (1850). 



The Wood-Wren, though the largest species of Willow-Warbler, and 

 perhaps the handsomest of the group, and certainly possessing the most 

 marked song and the most peculiar call-notes, appears to have escaped the 

 attention of Linnaeus. Gilbert White, in his ' Natural History of Sel- 

 borne/ clearly points out, apparently for the first time, the distinctness of 

 this charming bird from the Willow- Wren and the Chiffchaff ; but it was 

 described as long ago as 1676 by Willughby and Ray, who had received 

 an example from their friend Mr. Francis Jessop of Sheffield, on whose 

 property the bird was probably as common as it is now, in spite of the 

 close proximity of the villas of the steel-makers. 



Though somewhat more local than its near allies, it is by no means un- 

 common in England and Wales. In Scotland it has not been recorded 

 north of the Moray Firth ; but our information on the ornithology of this 

 district is so meagre that it may have been overlooked. In Ireland it is 

 only known to have occurred in the counties of Fermanagh and Dublin. 

 On the continent its range is even more restricted than that of the Chiff- 

 chaff. It is not known to have been obtained in Norway ; but in Sweden 

 it is found as far north as Upsala. It is very common in the Baltic pro- 

 vinces, but is rarer in South Finland. Though Alston and Harvie-Brown 

 were mistaken in supposing that they found it near Archangel, it is recorded 

 by Hencke as a rare summer visitor to that locality. It is common in 



