486 



2 



fig. 4: Sundevall, Svensk. Fogl. pi. 14. fig. 4; Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 131. fig. 2 ; id. B. of 

 G. Brit. ii. pi. 06 ; Schlegel, Vog. Nederl. pi. 74 ; Bettoni, Ucc. Lomb. pi. 100. 



Ad. pileo ct corpore supra, viridi-fuscis vix griseo tinctis, stria superciliari sordide flavo-viridi : alis et Cauda 

 griseo-fuscis, plumis extus viridi-flavido rnarginatis : capitis lateribus flavido-fuscis et flavo-cervino 

 notatis : gula, gutture et corpore subtus flavo-albidis, hypocliondriis cervino lavatis : axillaribus, sub- 

 alaribus et tibiis flavidis : rostro et pedibus saturate fuscis : iride fusca. 



Adult Male (Guiken, Asia Minor). Upper parts generally brown, tinged with grey, and washed with 

 yellowish green; a superciliary stripe over the eye dull yellowish green; wings and tail greyish brown, 

 the feathers margined externally with yellowish green ; sides of the head lighter than the upper parts 

 and marked with yellowish bull'; underparts yellowish white, the flanks washed with buff; axillaries, 

 wing-lining, and thighs yellow ; bill and legs dark brown; iris brown. Total length about 4'75 inches, 

 culmen 4, wing 2"55, tail 2"05, tarsus 0"8; third and fourth primaries longest, the sixth, seventh, 

 and eighth graduating shorter in succession, the second rather shorter than the seventh. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male, but is rather smaller in size. 



Obs. Tin' variation in the colour of the plumage is, as a rule, not great; but the autumn dress of both old 

 and young, more especially of the latter, is more buffy yellow in tinge than in examples killed in the 

 breeding-season. 



Common in the summer in the north of Europe, the ChiffchafF passes south to winter, and is to 

 be met with in Southern Europe and North Africa during the cold season. It is also found in 

 winter in the Canaries and on Teneriffe; and its range extends eastward to Persia. 



In Great Britain it arrives very early in the spring, and remains frequently as late as 

 October, some few individuals even wintering with us in a mild season. Montagu saw it in 

 ilic winters of 1S0G-1S07 and 1808-1809 in Devonshire. Professor Newton states that, 

 according to Mr. Rodd, a few examples remain in Cornwall throughout most winters; and 

 Lord Lilford informed him that he had twice seen this bird in Northamptonshire in December. 

 1 myself have heard its easily recognizable note during bright warm weather late in January 

 L872 at South Norwood, near the Crystal Palace. In some parts of England, however, Professor 

 Newton remarks, it is not usually heard till late in April or early in May. It breeds regularly 

 pi every county in England and throughout Wales, but becomes less numerous towards the 

 north. In most places it is said to be less numerous than the Willow- Wren; but in some of the 

 western and southern counties it is certainly the commoner of the two species. Mr. Stevenson 

 writes (B. of Norf. i. p. 133), in Norfolk it is " one of our earliest summer visitants, and breeds 

 with us, arriving in March and remaining till October; and it is not unusual to hear at the 

 same moment the note of the Chiffchaff and the clatter of the Fieldfare, the one already 

 arrived in its summer quarters before' the other has left us for its northern breeding-grounds. 

 According to Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, a low bush, frequently of furze, appears to be a 

 favourite locality for the nest of the Chiffchaff. As many as four have been found in such 

 places within a few yards." 



In the north of England it becomes rarer. Mr. Hancock speaks of it as being only a 



