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much incubated to be worth the trouble of blowing. It was not until the 4th July that we 

 obtained the nest and eggs of the Siberian ChiffchafT. We had spent the morning blowing eggs ; 

 and in the afternoon we crossed over to the mainland. Most birds breed somewhat earlier on 

 the tundra, where, after the snow has melted, they are secure from floods. We had not landed 

 many minutes before we shot a Black Scoter off her nest, with six fresh eggs. The Dunlins, 

 Lapland Buntings, Red-throated Pipits, Redpoles, and Yellow-headed Wagtails were busy 

 feeding their young. We found eggs still in a King-Dotterel's nest. We watched a Richardson's 

 Skua on to her nest with two eggs, and afterwards a Grey Plover, whose nest contained three 

 eggs. All these eggs were more or less incubated. We returned to Alexievka about midnight. 

 The sun was shining, and the Ismichi were returned from their evening's bird-nesting ; so we at 

 once installed ourselves in the Company's fcontora, to receive such of the men as had found 

 any nests. A couple of Red-throated Diver's eggs, with the bird trapped at the nest, was the 

 first arrival. The second was five Pintail's eggs, with down. Then came a man with six Red- 

 necked Phalarope's eggs, and five eggs of Temminck's Stint. He was followed by another with 

 seven Scaup's eggs and a cap full of down. Then a large batch of Long-tailed Duck's down and 

 five eggs were brought us. Lastly, came a man with four nests of malinka petetski (small birds), 

 a Sedge- Warbler's, a Red-throated Pipit's, a Willow- Warbler's, and last, and least in size, but 

 not in importance (for in our eyes at that moment it eclipsed the Grey Plover's nest we had 

 taken a few hours before), the much-coveted nest of the Siberian Chiffchaff. The man told us 

 that he had found it in the long grass in one of the small opens between the willow thickets on 

 the island. The nest is domed; or if we take the nests of the common Wren or of the Water- 

 Ousel as types of domed nests, one might call it semidomed, like those of the three British 

 species of the same genus. It is composed of dry grass, not particularly neatly constructed, and 

 lined witli a profusion of feathers. It contained seven eggs, somewhat incubated. They are, as 

 might be expected, very small, not much more than half the size of those of the Willow- Warbler. 

 The shells are semitransparcnt ; and the eggs looked pinkish before being blown, but afterwards 

 became a pure white, freely spotted with small reddish brown spots, most numerous at the large 

 end, where they are more or less confluent, forming a zone round the egg. They measure 

 I o hy f § inch. 



" I have ventured to give this black-legged little Warbler the English name of the Siberian 

 ChiffchafT, which gives some idea of its distribution and nearest affinities." 



I am also indebted to Mr. W. E. Brooks for the following information respecting the present 

 species in India: — "This species," he writes, ; 'is a regular cold-weather visitant to the plains of 

 India. I have often noticed it in the grain-fields far away from trees ; and, as a rule, this species 

 affects trees less than other Phi/lloscopi. It is partial to damp situations, and at the same time 

 is found in dry localities where there is little or no cover, but occasional brushwood or long grass. 

 It is, like all the others of the group, a lively little bird ; ever in motion, and has the true 

 Phylloscopine habit of poising itself, by means of a rapid motion of the wings, under a leaf or 

 tuft of leaves, in order to facilitate its examination for insects. 



" It varies very much in size, and to some slight extent in tone of colour. It can be gene- 

 rally easily distinguished from all its Indian allies by the bright sulphur-yellow axillaries. 



"The call-note is a shrill sibilant one, something like that of the common Creeper or Hedge- 



