467 



Genus PHYLLOSCOPUS. 



Ficedula apud Brisson, Orn. iii. p. 479 (1760). 

 Motacilla apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 338 (1766). 

 Sylvia apud Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 154 (1769). 

 Asilus apud Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. p. 176 (1802). 

 Trochilus apud Forster, Synopt. Cat. p. 14 (1817). 

 Phylloscopus, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 972. 

 Curruca apud Fleming, Brit. Anim. p. 70 (1828). 

 Regulus apud Fleming, ut supra (1828). 

 Sibilatrix apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 98 (1829). 

 Phyllopneuste apud C. L. Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 427 (1831). 

 Syhicola apud Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 14 (1836). 

 Beguloides apud Blyth, J. A. Soc. Beng. xvi. p. 442 (1847). 

 Abromis apud Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 290 (1850). 

 Phyllobasileus apud Cabanis, Journ. f. Orn. i. p. 91 (1854). 

 Ilypolais apud Severtzoff, Turk. Jevotn. p. 125 (1873). 

 Phyllopseustes apud Meves, Journ. f. Orn. 1875, p. 429. 

 Phyllopseuste apud Giebel, Thes. Orn. iii. p. 121 (1877). 



This genus includes all our Willow-Warblers, and forms a fairly distinct group, though some 

 of the species approach near to the genus Hypolais, others to Regulus, and others (which do 

 not occur in the Western Palaearctic Region) show a tendency towards the genus Abromis. 

 Mr. Seebohm, in his article on the Phylloscopi (Ibis, 1877, pp. 66-108), though he includes all 

 in the same genus, says that they might be split up into three sections, viz.: — 



Acanthopneuste. Bill large, and pale underneath ; one, and frequently two bars across 

 the wings. 



Phylloscopus. Bill slender, more or less dark underneath, no bar across the wings. 



Beguloides. Bill slender, more or less dark underneath ; two bars across the wings ; a more 

 or less distinct mesial line on the crown. 



In the first of these sections he includes, of the Western Palaearctic species, Phylloscopus 

 borealis and Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus, in the last Phylloscopus superciliosus, and in the second 

 all the remaining species included in the present work. 



The present group ranges over the Palaearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Regions; and one 

 species, Phylloscopius borealis, has also been met with in the extreme north-western portion of 

 the Nearctic Region. Within the limits of the Western Palaearctic Region eight species of 

 Phylloscopus occur, only two of which are stragglers from Asia, the others being regular summer 

 residents. The Phylloscop>i, or Willow Warblers, are exceedingly fine songsters. They are 

 insectivorous, feeding chiefly on small insects and larvae which infest the foliage of trees. They 

 build semidomed or oven-shaped nests, and lay white eggs spotted with red or purple. 



These AVarblers have more or less slender bills, and have the upper parts varying in colour 

 from olive-green to brown, the lower parts varying from yellow or greenish yellow to white. 



Phylloscopus trochilus, which I consider to be the type of the genus, has the bill rather 



16 



