260 SYLYTID.E. 



distinct from P. fuscatus, structurally as well as in plumage 

 answering perfectly to Hodgson's description. 



I wrote to Dr. jerdon mentioning this fact, and he replied : — " I 

 also am not satisfied of the identity of this species (H. fulviventris) 

 with Phylloscopus fuscatus. I have recently got at Darjeeling what 

 I take to be Horornis fulviventris, and it is somewhat smaller 

 in all its dimensions, but'l had not a typical P. fuscatus with which- 

 to compare it. Specimens measured 4f to 4§ inches ; expanse 6^ 

 inches; wing 2 to 2 i- inches. I procured the nest and eggs in 

 July ; the nest, cup-shaped, on a bank, composed of grass chiefly, 

 with a few fibres ; and the eggs, three in number, pinky white, 

 with a few reddish spots." 



It is certainly not P. fuscatus (though possibly some specimens of 

 P. fuscatus in the British Museum may bear a label formerly 

 attached to a bird of this species), nor any other Horornis or 

 Horeites included in Dr. Jerdon's work, all of which I have. 

 Mr. Blyth possibly went by Mr. Hodgson's specimens in the British 

 Museum, but some confusion has, it is known, somehow crept in 

 amongst these ; and I have no doubt myself that Horornis fulvi- 

 ventris is a good species, and that it was the nest and eggs of this 

 species which Dr. Jerdon found *. 



415. Phylloscopus proregulus (Pall.). Pallas 's Willow -Warbler. 



Reguloides chloronotus (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 197. 



Eeguloides proregulus (Pall.), Hume, Rough Draft N. Sr E. no. 566. 



Captain Cock has the honour of being the first to take, and, I 

 believe, up to date the only oologist who has ever taken, the nest 

 and eggs of Pallas's Willow-Warbler. Mr. Brooks tried hard for 

 the prize, but he searched on the ground and so missed the nest. 

 He wrote to me from Cashmere, just about the time (June 1871) 

 that Captain Cock found the nest he obtained : — ■" I have been 

 utterly unable to do anything with P. proregulus. I shot a female, 

 with an egg nearly ready to lay, when I first went to G-oolmerg, 

 but though I often heard the males singing, I never could find any 

 indication of the nesting female. The feeble song, like that of 

 P. sibilatrix, alluded to by Blyth as being that of P. superciliosus, 

 is not that of this latter bird, but of P. proregulus." 



Later, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, he noted that 

 " Captain Cock took the nest and eggs at Sonamerg. It builds, 

 like the Golden-crested Eegulus, up a fir-tree, at from 6 to 40 feet 

 elevation, on the outer ends of the branches. The nest is of moss, 

 wool and fibres, and profusely lined with feathers. Eggs, four or 



* I omit the article on Ahrornis chloronotus, Hodgs., which appeared in the 

 ' Rough Draft ' under number 574 bis. There is no manner of doubt that 

 Hodgson got the wrong nest, a nest of a Sunbird, and figured it as that of this 

 bird.— Ed. 



