AVOOD-WREN. 429 



eggs are much more thickly marked than others : in some the spots are 

 small ; in others they are confluent in places and form several large pale 

 blotches, thickly intermingled with small and darker spots and streaks. 

 They measure from -7 to '6 inch in length, and from -59 to '53 inch in 

 breadth. The peculiarities of the Wood-Warbler^s eggs, compared with 

 the eggs of its British congeners, are their average larger size, more nume- 

 rous and richer brown markings, and the underlying spots of violet-grey. 

 So far as is known, the only eggs of any other Willow-Warbler they can 

 be confused with are those of Bonelli's Warbler (P. bonellii) ; but the eggs 

 of this bird are much smaller : otherwise the markings are precisely the 

 same in colour and distribution. 



The adult Wood- Warbler in spring plumage has the general colour of 

 the upper parts yellowish green, yellowest on the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts. A distinct greenish yellow eye-stripe extends from the base of 

 the bill as far as the crown ; the feathers before the eye, and behind the 

 eye as far as the crown, are olive-green; and the wing-coverts are olive- 

 green with paler edges. The quills are brown, narrowly tipped with 

 greyish white, the outside webs edged with yellowish green, and emargi- 

 nated as far as the fourth primary ; and the margins to the innermost 

 secondaries are broad and pale. The tail-feathers are brown, the outside 

 webs edged with yellowish green, and the inside webs having a narrow 

 greyish- white margin. The general colour of the underparts is pure white, 

 suffused with yellow on the chin, throat, and fore neck, occasionally with 

 a trace of yellow on the flanks and the basal part of the under tail-feathers. 

 The axillaries, under wing-coverts, and thighs are yellow. Bill dark brown, 

 paler at the base of the under mandible ; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides 

 hazel. The summer plumage of the Wood- Wren is very similar to the 

 spring ; for, owing probably to its retiring habits and the more limited 

 range of its migration, and possibly to the firmer texture of its feathers, 

 its plumage suffers little from abrasion. The autumn plumage is similar 

 to that of spring. The Wood-Warbler may always be distinguished from 

 its near ally the Willow -Warbler by its bright yellow eye-stripe, by its 

 greener upper parts, larger size, and by its very small first primary, the 

 exposed part only measuring from 0'3 to 04 inch, whereas in the Willow- 

 Warbler it is usually 0'6 inch. 



