430 BRITISH BIRDS. 



PHYLLOSCOPUS TROCHILUS. 

 WILLOW-WREN. 



(PLATE 10.) 



Ficedula asilus, Briss. Om. iii. p. 479 (1760). 



Motacilla troshilus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 338 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Bonaparte), (Dec/land fy Gerbe), (Loche), 



(Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), (Dresser), fyc. 



Sylvia trochilus (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 160 (1769). 

 Motacilla fitis, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. iv. p. 678 (1795). 

 Sylvia fitis (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 187 (1802). 

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

 Sylvia flaviventris, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xi. p. 241 (1817). 

 Trocliilus medius, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817). 

 Phylloscopus trocliilus (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 972. 

 Regulus trochilus (Linn.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 72 (1828). 

 Phyllopneuste arborea, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 427 (1831). 

 Phyllopneuste fitis (Bechsf.), Brehm, Voy. Deutschl. p. 427 (1831). 

 Phyllopneuste trochilus (Linn.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 429 (1831). 

 Sylvia melodia, Blyth, Rennie's Field Nat. i. p. 425 (1833). 

 Curruca viridula, Hempr. $ Ehrenb. Symb. Phys., Aves, fol. bb (1833). 

 Sylvicola trochilus (Linn.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 13 (1836). 

 Ficedula trochilus (Linn.), Keys. n. Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. 185 (1840). 

 Sylvia tarnarixis, Crespon, Fauna Merid. i. p. 209 (1844). 

 Sylvia augusticauda, Gerbe, Faun, de FAube, p. 139, Jlde Deal. Orn. Eur. i. p. 549 



(1849). 



Phyllopneuste eversrnanni, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 289 (1850). 

 Silvia meisneri, Pussier, Naum. 1851, p. 56. 



Phyllopneuste major, Tristram, Ann, Nat. Hist. 1871, viii. p. 29 (nee Forster). 

 Phylloscopus gaetkii, Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 92. 

 Phyllopseuste trochilus (Linn.), Giebel, Thes. Orn. iii. p. 121 (1877). 



Of all the Willow- Warblers the common Willow-Wren, as it is generally 

 called, is the most abundant and the most widely distributed. The exqui- 

 site delicacy of its plumage, the slender gracefulness of its form, its active 

 Tit-like habits, its pretty little song, and, above all, its carefully concealed 

 domed nest and beautiful pink eggs make it a general favourite. There 

 is scarcely a plantation, or garden, or copse in Great Britain or Ireland 

 where the Willow- Wren is not a common bird in the breeding-season. 

 On the continent it is equally common. I found it abundant on the fjelds 

 of Lapland both in the Porsanger and Varanger fjords ; and on the tundras 

 of the Petchora and Yenesay, up to lat. 70, wherever the valleys were shel- 

 tered enough to allow of the growth of willow copses. It breeds through- 

 out Central and Western Europe, a few even remaining during summer in 

 North-west Africa ; but towards the east its breeding range does not 

 extend so far south. There is no evidence of its breeding in South Russia ; 



