418 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



at Christiania ; but they might have been chiefly silent then, for 

 they cease singing in England earlier than the Chiffchaff. 



P. sibilatrix. — I heard distinctly the call-note of a male in 

 thick woodland at Eg, near Christiansand, but could not see the 

 bird. According to the list of Norwegian birds in Professor 

 Collett's 'Bird Life in Arctic Norway,' the Wood Wren is only a 

 rare breeder in Norway. 



Hypolais icterina. — I hoped to have heard a good deal of the 

 song of the Icterine Warbler, but partly perhaps on account of 

 our limited stay on our way north, and the bad weather we 

 encountered when coming south, I was disappointed. But I 

 cannot think that it was as common as usual in Norway in 1896. 

 At the end of June and in early July I made two long searches 

 for it in suitable localities, and lost no opportunity of listening 

 for it in the well-planted ornamental grounds in Christiania and 

 Trondhjem. Professor Collett told me that it was to be heard in 

 the shrubs at the back of the Museum, but that June 1st (when 

 we were there) was full early for it ; we could not hear it on our 

 return, however. Nevertheless, I heard enough of the bird's song 

 to show me that I was probably justified in surmising (Zool. 1896, 

 p. 125) that the birds I found spending the breeding season in 

 North Africa were less imbued with spirit and energy than those 

 which go further north in spring. At Eg, on May 31st, two 

 Icterine Warblers, fighting among some trees, attracted my 

 attention by their loud angry twanging notes of " ty-ink," " ty- 

 yink." One of them presently flew to some low trees and sang, 

 and I wrote down the following note. It was still the same 

 running harsh song that I knew last year, with a " ti-op ti-op 

 ti-op " to start with sometimes. But certainly it was more 

 vigorous, and the bird did give vent to some extraordinary and 

 astonishing sounds; whistles, musical repetitions of an Owl's 

 " kee-wak," and one sound well described by the Rev. C. Benson 

 as Parrot-like. Yet, apart from this, I could not call it a fine 

 song, and it had nothing of the Nightingale's song about it. 



Parus major. — Feeding young in nest at Christiansand, May 

 31st. Very common about Christiania, in the town gardens and 

 neighbourhood. Feeding brancher young in early July. 



P. palust?is. — Small brown examples seen at Christiansand 

 were, I suppose, the typical species, which is included in the list 

 of the birds of Norway. But a specimen so labelled in the 



