PHYLLOSCOPUS MAGNIROSTBIS. 



(THE LARGE-BILLED TREE-WARBLER.) 



Phylloscopus magnirostris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1843, xii. p. 966 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 191 

 (1863) ; Brooks, Ibis, 1872, p. 26 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 439 (first printed record 

 from Ceylon) ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 22 ; Brooks, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 243 ; Seebohm, 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 77 ; Hume, B. of Tenass., Str. Feath. 1878, p. 352. 



Phyllopneuste magnirostris (Bl.), G. R. Gray, App. Hodgs. Cat. B. of Nep. p. 15 (1846). 



Phyllojpseuste magnirostris (BL), Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 236. 



Phylloscopus javanicus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 185 (1849). 



The Large-hilled Willow- Warbler. 



Adult male and female. Length 4-9 to 5-2 inches ; wing 2-5 to 2-75 ; tail 1-85 to 2-0 ; tarsus 07 to 0-8 ; middle toe 

 and claw 055 ; bill to gape 0-5 to 0-6. 



Iris light or yellowish brown ; bill dark horn, with the base and tip of lower mandible fleshy ; gape pale ; legs and feet 

 bluish grey or dusky bluish. 



Above dusky olive-greenish, paling on the rump ; wings and tail brown, edged with a pale greenish hue, and the latter 

 tipped with the same ; greater coverts with pale terminal spots, forming a wing-bar ; a whitish supercilium from 

 the nostril over the eye to the ear-coverts ; lores and a moderately large space behind the eye dark brown ; cheeks 

 mingled brown and greenish white ; beneath whitish, washed with flavescent greenish, with the flanks and sides of 

 the chest cinereous brownish (in some the whole chest is overcast with dusky) ; under tail-coverts greenish white ; 

 under wing greenish yellow. 



Obs. This Warbler is easily recognized from the last species by its stouter build and darker upper plumage, also by 

 the dark head and space behind the eye, over which the rather conspicuous supercilium reaches ; these are differ- 

 ences which prevent it being confounded for a moment with P. nitidus, where the larger bill mio-ht at first be 

 overlooked, especially as this varies somewhat in size. 



This Willow- Warbler is very closely allied to P. lugubris, another Indian species, the only reliable point of difference 

 between the two being the proportion of the primary quills to one another. In the present species the 2nd and 

 8th primaries are subequal, whereas in P. lugubris, the 2nd primary is shorter than the 8th. In one of my skins 

 from Ceylon, the 2nd primary is somewhat shorter than the 8th ; but it is so exactly identical with the rest of my 

 series that it is not advisable to separate it. Mr. Seebohm has examined it and is of the same opinion. On the 

 whole, I think, the wing of P. lugubris is shorter than in the present species ; several specimens from Sikkim I 

 have examined measure as follows : — 2-6, 2-55, 2-4, 2-6, $ 2-5 inches, and they are, as a whole, a trifle darker on 

 the upper surface than P. magnirostris. I have not procured a female of this latter with the w-ing less than 

 2-5 inches, and one specimen measures 2-6, although I see that Mr. Seebohm, in his excellent paper on the Phyl- 

 loscopi already referred to, gives a minor limit of 2-23. Two examples from India measure 2-83 and 2-5 inches in 

 the wing. 



There is no reason to infer why P. lugubris should not occur in Ceylon ; and I commend the subject of its discovery 

 there to those who may hereafter pay attention to this genus in the island. 



Both these species much resemble the Willow- Wren of Europe, P. trochilus; but this latter has no wing-bar, is slightly 

 greener on the back, and the throat, chest, and under wing-coverts are washed with a brighter greenish yellow ; 

 the bill is smaller and legs longer. An example in my collection measures : — length 5-1 inches, wing 2-65, tail 

 2-1, tarsus 085, bill to gape 0-5. Iris brown; bill, upper mandible brown, lower fleshy ; legs and feet brown. 



Distribution. — Like the last species, this Tree- Warbler is migratory in the cool season to Ceylon, arriving 

 and departing much about the same time as that bird. It is common in many parts of the island, particularly in the 

 forest-region of the northern half and in the Eastern Province. I found it likewise in considerable numbers 

 in some parts of the North-west Province, particularly on the Deduru oya and its tributaries, and also in the 

 Ikkade-Barawe forest and other spots in the Western Province. In the Kandy country and in the upper hills 

 it is likewise common. It was particularly abundant during the cool season of 1876-77 ; in January 1877, at 



4B 



