12 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 



PHYLLOSCOPUS SUPERCILIOSUS (Gmel.). 



On the 4th of June, while the ill-fated ' Thames ' was in 

 the agonies of its first shipwreck, I was delighted to have my 

 attention called away by the note of this interesting bird, 

 which I recognized at once as the same which I had heard* 

 in Gaetke's garden on Heligoland the year before. It is 

 very fairly represented by the word weest. The bird soon 

 became very common, frequenting almost exclusively the 

 pine-forests on the banks of the Koo-ray'-i-ka and the Yen- 

 e-say'. It was not particularly shy ; and on more than one 

 occasion I watched it for some time at a distance of only a 

 few feet. On one occasion only I heard it make any attempt 

 at a song; this was on the 21st of June. The bird was 

 perched upon the extreme summit of a spruce, and stood 

 shivering its wings, uttering a few plaintive notes, most of 

 them poor and feeble variations on its call-note. On the 

 26th of June I was fortunate enough to find its nest. Curi- 

 ously enough I was this time also in company with a Heligo- 

 lander, Mr. Boiling, the ship-builder of Yen-e-saisk'. Late 

 in the evening we were strolling through the forest between 

 the Koo-ray'-i-ka and the Yen-e-say'. As we were walking 

 along a little bird started up near us, and began most per- 

 sistently to utter the well-known cry of the Yellow-browed 

 Warbler. As it kept flying around us from tree to tree, we 

 naturally came to the conclusion that it had a nest near. 

 We searched for some time unsuccessfully, and then retired 

 to a short distance, and sat down upon a tree-trunk to watch. 

 The bird was very uneasy, but continually came back to a 

 birch tree, from which it frequently made short flights to- 

 wards the ground, as if it was anxious to return to its nest, 

 but dare not whilst we were in sight. This went on for about 

 half an hour, when we came to the conclusion that the nest 

 must be at the foot of the birch tree, and commenced a second 

 search. In less than five minutes I found the nest, with six 

 eggs. It was built in a slight tuft of grass, moss, and bil- 

 berries, semidomed, exactly like the nests of our Willow- 

 Warblers. It was composed of dry grass and moss, and lined 

 with reindeer-hair. The eggs were very similar in colour to 



