of the CMjfchajf and Willow- Warhler. 305 



disjointed f'Hin -potty/' if one may use such an expression)^ 

 the first two notes jerked out, so that for a moment they 

 might have been put down to an eccentric ChiffchafF, had 

 they not invariably been followed by the four or five notes 

 in descending scale characteristic of the Willow-Warbler — 

 in short, if it was a poor Willow-Wren's song, it was an 

 impossible Chiffchaff's. 



On the 29th of April we found a nest with four nearly 

 fresh eggs belonging to this Warbler, and shot the hen bird 

 oft' the nest, as well as a male singing close by and almost 

 certainly her mate. 



The nest, 18 inches above the ground, lightly placed 

 among bracken and Spanish gorse, was decidedly more 

 " Chiftchaff " than " Willow-Wren." 



The eggs are curious, they average 15'6 x 13 mm., and the 

 ground-colour is pure white without the yellowish tinge 

 generally found in Willow-Warblers ; on the other hand, 

 there is no trace of the violet shell-marks usual in Chiffchafl^s' 

 eggs. One of the eggs has sienna-brown freckles and spots 

 of a darkness approaching the average Chiffchaff's ; the other 

 three, however, are plentifully sprinkled with quite light red 

 marks like Willow-Warblers'. 



A'Vithout knowing the parentage I should have put the 

 clutch down as " doubtful, but probably Willow-Warbler." 



It was therefore no little surprise, on examining the birds 

 themselves, to find that thev possess all the external 

 characters, dimensions, wing-formula, emargination, etc., 

 of the typical Chiffchaff ; even in colour, so far as 1 can 

 make out (and Mr. Witherby, who has kindly helped me in 

 the matter, agrees), there is no appreciable diiference from 

 similar-aged birds obtained in the British Islands during 

 summer. Possibly the sulphur-yellow axillaries may be a 

 trifle brighter, but it would require a series of birds in less 

 worn summer plumage than these, to pronounce definitely 

 on the point. 



In all we obtained seven specimens : ^ ad. and ? ad. of nest 

 29/4 ; <$ ad. 30/4; J; ad., $ ad. 2/6 ; (^ ad.3/() ; S juv. 4/G. 

 The adults, especially the June ones, are all in very worn 



SEK. X. VOL. 11. X 



