PALLAS'S WILLOW WABBLEB IN NOBFOLK. 11 



lemon-yellow plumage still adhering to it," to Mr. Gatke, who at 

 first inclined to the idea that it belonged to a species of Regulus, 

 but Aeuckens emphatically insisted that the bird was a Warbler. 

 It was not till the year 1879, when Von Homeyer visited him, 

 bringing a Siberian skin of P. proregulus, that he fully satis- 

 fied himself his wing belonged to a bird of that species. On 

 Oct. 29th, 1875, Aeuckens, accompanied by his nephew, again 

 saw a bird of this species a few steps in front of him, under the 

 edge of the cliff, in such a position that had he shot it, it would 

 have fallen into the surf below ; they had ample leisure to con- 

 template the bright lemon-yellow plumage of the lower part of 

 its back, but no opportunity offered of securing it. Finally, by 

 the occurrence of the specimen at Cley on Oct. 31st last, after 

 various changes and much confusion, we are able to restore Mr. 

 Gould's so-called Dalmatian Warbler — really Pallas's Willow 

 Warbler — to a place in the list of accidental visitors to Britain; 

 and it may be that, attention having been called to the dis- 

 tinguishing characters of the species, it will be found, as in some 

 other instances, to be of more frequent occurrence than has 

 hitherto been suspected. 



The distribution of this species is thus given by Mr. Seebohm 

 in the 'Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum' (vol. v. 

 p. 72) : — " Pallas's Barred Willow Warbler breeds in the sub- 

 alpine districts of South-eastern Siberia, and throughout the 

 alpine districts of the Himalayas from Cashmere to Burma, 

 passes through North China on migration, and winters in South 

 China, Burma, and Bengal "; and, it may be added, occasionally 

 straying as far westward as Heligoland and the east coast of 

 Britain. Mr. Dresser, in part ii. of the Supplement of his 

 'Birds of Europe' (March, 1895), gives some very interesting 

 particulars with regard to the distribution and breeding habits of 

 this species, in which, however, he exercises considerable dis- 

 cretion, as it has so often been confounded with Phylloscopus 

 superciliosus : "In its habits, mode of life, and nidification, 

 although it cannot well be separated generically from the Phyllo- 

 scopi, it shows affinity to the genus Regulus, whereas P. super- 

 ciliosus is a true Willow Wren." Mr. Gatke is of opinion that 

 there exists a difference between the Siberian and Indian forms 

 of this bird ; but Mr. Dresser, as a result of his examination of 



