342 BRITISH BIRDS. 



the continent under the name of Sylvia undata dartfordiensis 

 of Latham, by reason of its sHghtly smaller size, its dull, 

 chocolate-brown, instead of slaty-grey, upperside, and by the 

 flanks being washed with brown instead of grey. — Eds. 



NORTHERN WILLOW-WREN IN NORFOLK. 



It may be of interest to record that a specimen of Phylloscopus 

 trochilus eversmanni [cf. antea, Vol. II., p. 234) was shot on the 

 Norfolk coast during the second week of May, 1908. Another 

 specimen shot in the same locality during the month of 

 September is of greater interest, because Dr. C. B. Ticehurst 

 had not detected this bird in the autumn. Both specimens 

 have been examined by Dr. Ticehurst, and the autumn bird 

 exhibits in its plumage practically none of the green and 

 yellow characteristic of the typical Willow- Wren. 



Clifford Borrer. 



Another example of this race shot at Cley, Norfolk, in 

 October, 1901, has been very kindly submitted to me by Mr. 

 Ernest M. Connop, of Wroxham, in whose collection it now is. 

 The bird, which has been examined by Dr. Ticehurst and myself, 

 is greyish-brown on the upperside and greyish-white on the 

 underside and has no green or yellow (except in the axillaries) 

 in its plumage. The eyes tripe is white. An additional 

 interest attaches to this specimen in that it was examined by 

 Howard Saunders, and I am indebted to Mr. Connop for a 

 view of a letter regarding the bird which Howard Saunders 

 wrote to Mr. Pashley, of Cley. Although it was not his 

 practice to distinguish very closely allied forms by name, 

 and although he makes no reference to this race in his 

 " Manual," it is clear from the letter that Howard Saunders 

 fully recognised its characteristics. " Your bird," he wrote 

 to Mr. Pashley, " is (in my opinion, of course) simply a Willow- 

 Wren Ph. trochilus, but it is a very interesting example — and 

 quite an old bird — of the northern form, which, as Seebohm 

 «ays {Cat. Birds B. Jf ., V., p. 58) ' occasionally in high northern 

 latitudes has all the green and yellow abraded and the general 

 plumage earthy-brown, the eyestripe having faded to greyish- 

 white and the underparts also to white.' The wing-formula 

 is absolutely that of the Willow- Wren, and one of Seebohm' s 

 specimens from the Yenesei, Siberia, matches your bird 

 exactly." 



Seebohm' s opinion that the brown and grey colouring was 

 produced by fading and abrasion is now, of course, proved to 

 be an error, since spring specimens exhibit the same 

 characteristics. 



