NOTES. 297 



In summer-plumage the female is generally darker brown on the 

 upperside, the greyish-brown edgings having worn off, and in many 

 specimens the throat is huffish-brown in winter and mottled with black 

 in summer. 



The male in fresh autumn-plumage has the smoky-white feathers of 

 the crown and nape fringed with greyish-black and the black 

 feathers of the mantle fringed with buffish-brown ; the black wing- 

 feathers and coverts edged with buffish-white ; the chin, throat and ear- 

 coverts black, the feathers with small buff tips. In other respects the 

 plumage much resembles that of the female. In summer the male 

 becomes greyish-white on the crown and nape and an intense black on 

 the back, wings and throat, through the wearing off of the tips of 

 the feathers. 



H.F.W. 



THE GREENISH WILLOW- WARBLER AS A BRITISH 

 BIRD. 



It will be remembered that in Vol. II., p. 408, we quoted 

 Mr. W. Eagle Clarke's verdict (c/. Ann. S.N.H., 1909, p. 114) 

 that the second recorded British example of the Greenish 

 Willow - Warbler (Phylloscopus viridanus), viz., the bird 

 obtained at the Suleskerry Lighthouse, on September 5th, 

 1902 (cf. Bull. B.O.C., XIII., p. 12; Ann. S.N.H., 1903, p. 22), 

 had proved to be after all an example of Eversmann's Warbler 

 (P. borealis). It seemed doubtful then whether the first 

 (and now only) British example of Phylloscopus viridanus, 

 viz., that obtained by Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh, on September 

 5th, 1896, had been correctly identified. In order to clear 

 up any doubt in the matter, Mr. Caton Haigh has very 

 kindly sent me this bird for examination, and I find that it 

 is an undoubted example of Phylloscopus viridanus. 



If a Willow- Warbler with one or two wing-bars is found 

 in the British Isles it is certain to be a rare visitor, but the 

 species to which it belongs should not be decided by this 

 character. The wing-bar in the Greenish WiUow- Warbler is 

 formed by the tips of the greater wing-coverts being yellowish- 

 white. Eversmann's Warbler has a similar wing-bar, and 

 very often (but not always) an ill-defined second wing-bar 

 which is formed by the tips of some of the median wing- 

 coverts also being of a yellowish-white. It will be readily 

 understood that these tips to the feathers are liable to become 

 worn off when the plumage is abraded, and therefore they 

 would be an unreliable character in some stages of plumage, 

 even if they were not variable. 



There need, however, be no more difficulty in distinguishing 

 the two species in question than the Chiffchaff and Willow- 

 Warbler, since their wing-forniulse (and especially the length 



