



Warblers 701 



white below, the forehead and part of the crown being rufous. These birds, 

 according to Mr. Gates, frequent well-wooded tracts, low jungles, and gardens, 

 going about singly or in pairs and having a remarkably loud note for their 

 size. The three or four eggs laid by this species vary from reddish white to 

 bluish green, boldly marked with brownish red. 



Fan-tailed Warblers. In another large genus of more than fifty species, 

 the members of which are known as Fan-tailed Warblers (Cisttcola), the tail 

 is shaped like a perfect fan, and there is in many of them a seasonal change in 

 plumage which also affects the length of the tail, this being much shorter in 

 summer than in winter. The Fan-tailed Warblers are not swamp-loving in 

 their habits, but are found in grain fields and grass -land, and secure much of 

 their food on the ground; many of them, for example the Rufous Fan-tail 

 (C. cursitans] of India and Ceylon, have a sharp, clear note mostly uttered while 

 the bird is soaring in the air, which it frequently does. This species builds a 

 tubular nest in a clump of grass, attaching it to the stems, and lays four or five 

 white or greenish eggs which are spotted with reddish brown and purple. 



Whitethroat, Blackcap, etc. Passing over a number of forms such as the 

 Wren-Warblers (Franklinia}, Grass Warblers (Graminicola), Tree Warblers 

 (Hypolais), etc., which do not exhibit special interest, we may notice some of 

 the more typical members of the family. The Whitethroat (Sylvia sylvia), per- 

 haps the best-known species of this genus, is one of the commonest and best- 

 known of the smaller summer visitors throughout Europe, being especially 

 abundant and esteemed in the British Islands. About five and a half inches 

 long, it has the upper parts reddish brown and the lower parts white faintly 

 tinged with rose-color. It attracts the attention of the passer-by, not so much 

 by its song, which is short and somewhat monotonous, as by its eccentric actions. 

 "The intruder," says Mr. Hudson, "is received with a startled, grating note, a 

 sound expressive of surprise and displeasure, and, repeating this from time to 

 time, the bird flits on before him, concealed from sight by the dense tangle he 

 moves amidst. Presently, if not too much alarmed, he mounts to a twig on 

 the summit of the hedge to pour out his song, a torrent of notes, uttered ap- 

 parently in great excitement, with crest raised, the throat puffed out, and many 

 odd gestures and motions. Sometimes he springs from his perch as if lifted 

 by sheer rapture into the air, and ascends, singing in a spiral, then drops swiftly 

 back to his perch again." The Whitethroat's nest is a slight structure of plant 

 stems and grasses and lined with horse-hair, placed in a low bush or bramble 

 two or three feet above the ground; the four to six eggs are greenish white 

 speckled with olive and sometimes marbled with gray and brown. Other more 

 or less well known species of the genus are the Blackcap (5. atricapilla), the 

 Garden Warbler (S. hortensis), etc. 



Willow Warblers. Although referred to several genera, the W 7 illow War- 

 blers are best exemplified in Phylloscopus, in which the bill is small and narrow 

 and the nostrils not overhung with bristles, and in Acanthopmuste, which has 

 a relatively larger bill with the nostrils nearly concealed with bristles. The 

 Willow Warblers are mainly olive-brown or olive-green above, and frequent 



