702 



The Sparrow-like Birds 



trees and bushes, especially willows along streams, among the branches of which 

 they search for insects, "frequently launching out after the winged ones in the 

 manner of a Flycatcher." They are in the main highly migratory, spending 

 the summer in the high north or in the lofty ranges of the Himalayas and in 

 winter retiring far to the south. The males of all, so far as known, possess a 

 pleasing song during the nesting season, but at other times their notes are low 

 and inconspicuous. They build a rather large, soft nest on the ground or in 

 low trees and lay pure white eggs, or white spotted with reddish. A well-known 

 species is the Chiff chaff (Phylloscopus minor} of Europe from the Canaries 



FIG. 200. Pallas's Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus proregulus. 



and the Volga north to the Arctic Circle, and a common bird in the British 

 Islands. It arrives very early in the spring from its African winter home and 

 throughout the season its pleasant though monotonous song of chiff-chaff, 

 chiffy-chaffy, is to be heard in woods and groves. It is active in its movements 

 and quite swift on the wing, now and then launching out to capture gnats and 

 flies, or searching for insects amidst the foliage. It builds a semi-dome-shaped 

 nest on or near the ground, constructing it of grasses, dry leaves, and moss, and 

 lining it with feathers, plant down, etc. A little larger and more brightly olive- 

 green above is the so-called Willow Wren (P. trochilus), a confiding and ex- 

 ceedingly sweet songster of Europe generally. Our illustration is that of Pallas's 

 Willow Warbler (P. proregulus} of Asia from the Lena to Lake Baikal and south 

 to the Himalayas. It frequents pine and birch woods and brushy valleys, and 

 in habits is said to resemble the Goldcrest (Regulus regulus}. Kennicott's 

 or the Alaskan Willow Warbler (Acanthopneuste borealis kennicotti), the parent 

 form of which occurs in northern and eastern Asia, is chiefly remarkable from 



