BUBY-THBOATED WABBLEB. 69 



This beautiful Warbler is an inhabitant of India, the Philippine 

 Islands, Japan, China, Formosa, and other parts of the eastern world. 

 It is also found in Siberia, Kamtschatka, and occasionally in Hussia 

 and the Crimea, in consequence of which it has been introduced into 

 the European fauna. According to Blyth it is common in Lower 

 Bengal during the cold season. In Eastern Siberia it is found plentifully 

 at Jenisei, Selenga, and Angara, where it arrives in May and disap- 

 pears in September. It was found by Schrenk in the Amoor Land. 



It was placed by Temminck among the Accentors, and by Miihle 

 in the genus Sylvia, near the Blue-throated Warbler. Its long- 

 synonymy will shew the contest which has arisen in men's minds as 

 to the right designation of this interesting songster. But if a bird 

 which in structure and many parts of its plumage closely resembles 

 the Nightingale, which, as we are told by Pallas, frequents willow 

 bushes, from the top of which, emulating the queen of song, it sends 

 forth its glorious notes at sunrise, noon, or midnight alike; if, I say, 

 such a bird does not deserve to be ranked among the Warblers, and 

 to stand high in the well-marked family of Syhiidce, I cannot under- 

 stand how we are to make natural affinities the bond or links of 

 classification. I have placed it in Gould's genus Calliope. 



That indefatigable and excellent ornithologist, Mr. Swinhoe, sends us 

 the following account from China, (P. Z. S., 1863, p. 292):— "Male 

 with fine crimson throat. Female with throat whitish, and without 

 the white and black that ornaments the face of the male. . When 

 passing our coast in spring the young males are found returning with- 

 out having acquired the adult tints, usually only a few reddish feathers 

 appearing on the throat; but the change of hue (not moult) goes on 

 very rapidly, and probably would be perfected by the time of their 

 arrival at their northern destination. The young males can be readily 

 distinguished from the females by their much whiter throat and darker 

 lores. These birds touch at Amoy in their northward migration in 

 April; I would hence infer that they had been a long way south for 

 their winter. Their summer range is all through North China, Mant- 

 churia as far as Kamtschatka. I found them at Pekin in October, 

 but they were young birds and might have been late in their sum- 

 mer migrations. They occur abundantly, I am told, during winter in 

 Hindostan. These would be birds from the Siberian regions. Our 

 northern migrants would be expected to winter in Siam and the 

 Malayan peninsula, whence I believe specimens have been received. 

 In form these birds are intermediate between the Robins and the Heed 

 Warblers.^' 



The Ruby-throat is found, according to Jerdon, chiefly in Northern 



