96 PBTLLOSCOPUS 



Inhabits woods where the trees are high, either of deciduous 

 trees or where conifers are intermixed with them, and frequents 

 the tops of the trees or the scattered lower branches. It feeds 

 on insects which it obtains amongst the foliage or sometimes 

 on the ground, and frequently captures flies on the wing. It 

 appears to prefer damp localities. Its call-note resembles that 

 of the Willow- Wren, and its song which is clear sweet and consists 

 of the syllable chu or chit uttered four or five times in uccession 

 followed by a characteristic shivering note which ma)' be heard 

 at a considerable distance. Its nest is domed, placed on the 

 ground, very well concealed and constructed of dry grass-bents 

 and a little moss, and lined with finer bents and a few hairs, 

 very seldom with wool or feathers. The eggs, from 5 to 7 in 

 number, are deposited in May or June, and are white minutely 

 spotted and speckled with deep purplish red surface-markings 

 and a few pale purplish grey shell-dots, and in some the markings 

 are collected round the larger end. In size they average about 

 0-65 by 047. 



138. BOXELLI'S WARBLER. 

 PHYLLOSCOPUS BONELLII. 



Pliylloscopus bonellii (Vieill.), Nouv. Diet, xxviii. p. 91 (1819) ; Dresser, 

 ii. p. 503, pi. 77, fig. 1, 78 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 59 ; 

 Sylvia natteren. Temm. Man. d'Orn. i. p. 227 (1820) ; (Gould), 

 B. of Eur. ii. pi. 134 ; Ph. montanus (Brehm), Yog. Deutschl. p. 42<> 

 (1831) ; Naumaim, xiii. p. 417, Taf. 369, fig. 4. 



Becfin-Bonelliy French; Lui-Uanco, ItaL, Bcrg-Laubvogcl 

 German. 



ad. (Italy). Upper parts browner than Ph. sibilatrix, rump washed 

 with sulphur-yellow ; superciliary streak buffy yellow ; under parts 

 white, tinged with pale sulphur-yellow on the breast and flanks, edge of 

 wing and axillaries bright sulphur-yellow. Culmen 0'42, wing 2*7, 

 tail 2'0, tarsus 0'72 inch ; first primary longer than in the Wood-Wren, 

 ri inch shorter than the second, which is a trifle longer than the sixth, 

 the third and fourth nearly equal and longest. The female is a trifle 

 smaller than the male. 



Hal. Central and Southern Europe, from Portugal to Asia 

 Minor ; of occasional occurrence in Northern France ; winters 

 in North Africa as far south as Senegal. 



In general habits it resembles the Wood- Wren, but affects 

 elevated localities, and is often to be met with in woods on the 

 southern slopes of hills. It inhabits the dense foliage of 

 deciduous trees, and is strictly insectivorous, picking its food 



