160 NORTHERN WILLOW WREN, 



In the "Ibis" for 1871, p. 109, Canon Tristram remarks: — "There 

 has been much confusion respecting Phi/llojyneuste Eoersmanni. The 

 bird so figured by MiddendorfF is undoubtedly distinct from P. 

 Eoersmanni, Bonaparte, and is perhaps the P. horealis, Blasius. It is 

 identical with P. sylvicultrix , Swinhoe. A specimen shot at Amoy in 

 April, given me by Mr. Swinhoe, exactly corresponds in dimensions 

 and shade with my Baikal specimens. The autumnal and winter 

 specimens from China are brighter in colour. This is exactly as is 

 the British P. trochilus. Some of Mr. Swinhoe's specimens are rather 

 smaller, but being procured at the same time and place with the 

 slightly larger forms, cannot, I believe, be separated. The birds 

 which I have from Lake Baikal as P. Ecersmanni, Bonaparte, (P. 

 icterina, Eversmann,) are totally distinct, and belong to another 

 group, much larger, with a short compressed bill, rounder wing, and 

 are in fact simply the eastern representatives of P. trochilus.^^ 



Mr. Swinhoe, in his paper on the Birds of China, (P. Z. S., 1863, 

 p. 295,) says that he has nearly two hundred specimens of P. sylvi- 

 cultrix, which we have seen is the same as P. horealis. There are 

 some much less in size than others, but neither Mr. Swinhoe nor 

 Mr. Tristram consider them anything more than one form, and this 

 lessens the value of size in determining this species. Mr. Swinhoe 

 remarks that all the Chinese forms of Phyllopneuste, where the genus 

 appears to be very common with the exception of the P. furcata, 

 show more or less yellowish spots on the wing — a distinction which 

 does not appear to be shared by any of the European forms. This 

 does not apply to the present bird, for not only does Blasius insist 

 strongly upon those creamy bands, but it will be seen by the specimen 

 which I figure, which was captured in Russia, that they are quite 

 apparent; and this was one of the reasons why Blasius, like Mr. 

 Swinhoe, placed this bird next to the Reguloides group. 



"P. sylvicultrix," says Mr. Swinhoe, "visits Amoy in large numbers 

 during its autumnal and vernal migrations. It probably summers in 

 the interior of China, and about Mingpo and Shangai. I have pro- 

 cured it in autumn in south-west Formosa, and I have reason to 

 believe it winters in the Philippines. Its great destroyer is the 

 Lanius lucionensis, Strickland, which migrates about the same time, 

 passing Amoy in immense numbers, and crossing over to the Philip- 

 pines via south-west of Formosa." 



Mr. Swinhoe seems to think that the Chinese examples of this 

 bird are the same as those described by Blasius above as Sylvia 

 Javanica, Horsfield, and that it is not improbable that P. sylvicultrix 

 spreads in winter through the Malay Islands. With the exception of 



