495 



Yenesay' (or Jenesei) river, and writes (Ibis, 1879, p. 9) : — " It was with very great pleasure that 

 I heard the familiar song of this European bird on the 4th of June on the Arctic circle, in the 

 valley of the Yen-e-say', so much further east than it has hitherto been recorded. I afterwards 

 found it common extending as far northwards as lat. 70°. As this bird has never been found 

 in India, it would seem probable that the Yen-e-say' Willow- Warblers winter in Persia, where 

 Blanford records them." 



Essentially a bird of the woodlands, the Willow- Wren is to be found almost wherever there 

 is plenty of tree-growth, or even amongst bushes, although it prefers groves where conifers and 

 non-evergreen trees are intermingled, well-wooded gardens, orchards, &c, and it is less seldom 

 seen in the dense forest amongst very lofty trees. It is a cheerful, lively bird, always in motion, 

 fluttering and hopping about amongst the foliage in search of insects, which it also captures on 

 the wing ; and it is by no means a shy bird, allowing any one who approaches it cautiously to 

 come quite near without evincing any alarm. Its call-note is a soft, low whistle like the syllables 

 weed, weed ; and in the spring the male utters a gentle chirping sound like the faint cry of a 

 mouse, which appears to be its pairing-note. Its song, though not very varied, is simple and 

 sweet ; and when warbling, the bird swells out its throat and even vibrates its body in the efforts 

 used in bringing forth its song. It feeds almost exclusively on different sorts of small insects, 

 especially aphides, and flies of various kinds ; and, unless it be a few berries which it is driven 

 to devour in the late autumn when insects are scarce, it never feeds on fruit of any kind. 



The nest of the Willow- Wren is almost invariably placed on the ground, often in a depression 

 in the soil, against a bank, or amongst long grass, and is constructed of dried grass, moss, or fern, 

 worked together with spiders' webs, and lined with hair, wool, and feathers, the last being 

 always used. It is semidomed, rather roughly made outside, and large for the size of the bird, 

 but neatly finished towards the interior. 



The eggs, from five to seven in number, are deposited late in April; and usually a second 

 brood is raised in the same season. They are white, more or less spotted, dotted, and blotched 

 with pale red ; and occasionally, though but rarely, pure white eggs are found. In size they 

 average about f£ by J$ inch. 



When collecting on the Petchora river, in North Russia, Mr. Seebohm shot a Willow- Wren 

 which he then believed to be specifically separable from Phylloscopus trochilus, and which he 

 subsequently described (I.e.) under the name of Phylloscopus gaetkei; but he now informs me 

 that it is questionable if it is really deserving of specific rank, and I have therefore deemed it 

 best to reunite it with the present species. Referring to this form or variety, Messrs. Seebohm 

 and Harvie-Brown write (Ibis, 1876, p. 216) : — " On the 12th June, as we were slowly creeping 

 down the great river, we stopped to cook under the lee of a steep bank of the Petchora, just 

 before we entered the delta. The bank was wooded to the water's edge ; and Seebohm spent 

 some hours exploring the dwarf forest. Willow- Wrens were common; and his attention 

 was arrested by one which was most vociferously uttering a note unlike any that he had ever 

 heard from a Willow- Warbler. The note reminded him somewhat of the spitting of a cat, a 

 hissing sound, which he attempted on the spot to express in words : he shot the bird, and tied 

 to its leg a label marked Tuz-zuk Warbler, to remind him of the note. The bird proved to be a 

 female. The respective lengths of the wing and tail agree with female P. trochilus ; but the 



