PHYLLOSCOPUS 97 



chiefly from off the leaves. Its call-note is a melancholy hoied 

 or hoiet, and its song iiiiii and wuit, wuit wuit, wuit. Its 

 nest is placed on the ground well concealed amongst the 

 herbage, and is constructed of dry grass-bents and a little 

 moss, lined with finer bents, never with hair or feathers. The 

 eggs which are deposited late in May or early in June, from 4 

 to 6 in number, resemble those of the Wood- Wren but are 

 smaller, and the spots are more profuse and somewhat browner 

 in tinge of colour. 



139. CHIFFCHAFF. 

 PHYLLOSCOPUS COLLYBITA. 



Phylloscopus collylita (Vieill.), Nouv. Diet. xi. p. 235 (1817) ; Newton, 

 i. p. 437 ; Dresser, ii. p. 485, pis. 75, fig. 1, 76, fig. 1 : Phyll rvfus, 

 (Bechst.), Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 188 (nee. Bodd.) ; (Hewitson), i. 

 p. 139, pi. 36, fig. 4 ; (Naum.), iii. p. 581. Taf. 80, fig. 4 ; (Gould), 

 B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 66 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. v. p. 60 ; 

 Saunders, p. 67 ; P. minor, Lilford, iii. p. 68, pi. 34. 



Beefin vdoce, French ; Lid-piccolo, Ital. ; Almendrita, Span.; 

 Weiden-Laubvogd,, German; Tjif-tjaf, Dutch; G-ran-sanger 

 Dan. and Norweg. ; Gransdngcwe, Swed. ; Tynnerilintu, Finn. ; 

 Kusnetschik, Penotschkamalaya, Russ. 



( ad. (Asia Minor). In general colouration of plumage resembling 

 Pli. trochilus but duller, the second primary is equal to the 7th, and the 

 quills externally marginate to the 6th inclusive, the third and fourth quills 

 longest ; legs dark brown much darker than in Ph. trochilus. 



Hob. Europe from the Canaries where it is resident, to the 

 valley of the Volga, north to within the Arctic circle ; winters 

 in southern Europe, Asia Minor, Persia, and North Africa, as far 

 south as Abyssinia. 



In general habits it resembles the Willow- Wren but its 

 movements are quicker and its flight rather swifter. It affects 

 woods and groves both deciduous and conifer, and feeds on 

 insects which it picks off the foliage and sometimes from off 

 the ground, or will catch gnats or flies on the wing. It has been 

 known to feed on small berries. Its alarm note resembles that 

 of the Willow- Wren, but is slightly shriller and not so loud, 

 and its song resembles the syllables chiff-chaff, chiffy -chaffy, or 

 cheep-cheep cheep-cheep. Its nest is placed on the ground or but 

 rarely a little above it, and is semi-domed, constructed of grass- 

 bents, dry. leaves, and moss and lined with plant-cotton hair and 

 a profusion of feathers, and its eggs, 5 to 6 in number, are 

 deposited late in May or in June, and are white, spotted and 



H 



