10 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithologg of Siberia. 



the Yen-e-say' Willow- Warblers winter iu Persia, whence 

 Blanford records them. 



In the St. -Petersburg Museum I had an opportunity of 

 examining the type of Eversmann's Sylvia icterina, which was 

 afterwards rechristened by Bonaparte Phyllopneuste evers- 

 manni. I found it to be a typical specimen of Phylloscopus 

 trochilus. 



PHYLLOSCOPUS TRISTIS, Blyth. 



The Siberian Chiffchaff arrived on the Arctic circle on the 

 4th of June, and was a common bird there until we left. 

 Even before the snow was melted in the forests its cheerful 

 chivit' -chivet' was constantly to be heard. When feeding it 

 is a most restless bird, seeming always to be in a hurry, as 

 if its object were to cover as much ground as possible. Later 

 on in the season it was much less difficult to shoot. Although 

 it arrives so early, it appears to be a late breeder. The first 

 nest I found was on the 2nd of July in lat. 67. We were 

 taking in ballast after our second narrow escape from ship- 

 wreck. I went on shore for a few hour's shooting. Along- 

 side the ship, on a grassy part of the river-bank, there were 

 three Ost'-yak chooms, with a herd of about fifty reindeer. 

 Fifty yards above this encampment the shore was very muddy, 

 and between the river and the forest was a long gently sloping 

 bank sprinkled over with willows. In these trees wisps of 

 dry grass were hanging, caught between the forks of the 

 branches, and left there after the high water had subsided. 

 In one of these, about two feet from the ground, a Siberian 

 Chiffchaff had built its nest, or rather it had appropriated one 

 of them for its nest. There was scarcely any attempt at 

 interlacing stalks. It was undoubtedly the most slovenly 

 and the most loosely constructed nest I remember to have 

 seen. It was scarcely more than a hole, about two and a half 

 inches in diameter, with one side a little higher than the other. 

 The entrance was somewhat smaller than the greatest size 

 inside, which was very globular and carefully lined with Caper- 

 calsie and Willow-Grouse feathers, plenty of which would 

 naturally be found so near to an Ost'-yak choom. I shot 



