49- 



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According to Mr. H. C. Muller it is a rare autumnal straggler to the Faeroes ; but it is found 

 in Scandinavia nearly to the North Cape. 



In Norway, Mr. Collett says, it is numerously distributed throughout the country, and 

 breeds from the Hvaloer up to the Russian frontier, on the islands off the coast, and in the fells 

 up to the willow-region. It arrives in Southern Norway about the first week in May, and leaves 

 from the middle to the end of September. In 1862 Mr. Collett shot one as late as the second 

 of October. 



In Sweden it breeds in suitable localities from Skane up into Lapland ; and Pastor Som- 

 merfelt speaks of it as being one of the commonest Warblers in East Finmark, where it is a 

 regular summer resident. In Finland I used often to see this bird, and met with it in every 

 part of the country I visited; and Von Wright informed me that it is certainly one of the 

 commonest of the Warblers. In Russia its range extends also very far north : Meves met with 

 it between Petersburg and Archangel ; and Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown, in their notes 

 on the ornithology of the Lower Petchora river, say (Ibis, 1876, p. 215): — "The Willow- Wren 

 is by far the commonest Warbler in the extreme north of Europe. Seebohm found it abundant 

 on the fjelds of Norway from the North Cape to the Varanger fjord. Harvie-Brown and Alston 

 found it equally common at Archangel. In their paper in 'The Ibis' (January 1873) Phyllo- 

 scopus eversmanni only was mentioned ; but a re-examination of the skins proves that Phyllo- 

 scojpus trochilus is the commoner bird. In the valley of the Petchora we found it common, both 

 in the forests of Ust Zylma and the willow-swamps on the islands of the delta and the tundra. 

 As we proceeded far north it became somewhat rarer ; but we found it among the dwarf willows 

 at Dvoinik, the most northerly point on the tundra which we visited. We never before so 

 thoroughly realized its right to the name of Willow- Warbler. We first heard the familiar note 

 of this bird on the 20th of May, but did not succeed in obtaining a specimen until the 23rd, by 

 which time it had become common. At one time we were under the impression that there must 

 be two species of these birds, one of them a smaller, more buff-breasted, and much more silent 

 bird ; and we consequently brought home more than forty skins for examination. We are now 

 convinced that the difference in size and habits is merely the difference of sex." Throughout 

 the whole of Central Russia and Poland it is generally distributed, and numerous in suitable 

 localities; and the same may be said respecting its presence in Germany, Denmark, Holland, 

 Belgium, France, and Portugal, where it is a summer resident, arriving in April and leaving in 

 September or early in October. In Spain it is a resident and breeds right down to Gibraltar, 

 where Colonel Irby saw young birds, able to fly, on the 8th May ; and he remarks that, although 

 universally distributed in winter, the Willow- Wren is most numerous on passage in March and 

 October. 



In Savoy and Italy the Willow- Wren is a summer visitant, arriving in April and leaving in 

 September ; and in Sicily it is said to be resident (?). It is, however, one of the least common 

 of the Warblers in Sardinia ; and Salvadori remarks that there is not a single specimen in the 

 Museum at Cagliari. According to Mr. C. Bygrave Wharton it was fairly numerous in Corsica 

 after the beginning of April ; but he never noticed any during the winter, though he was con- 

 stantly on the look-out for them; and in Malta, Mr. C. A. Wright says (Ibis, 1864, p. 69), the 

 present species is " a bird of passage in March, April, September, and October. It does not 



