CHIFF-CHAFF. 
1!?9 
the two outer quills and the side feathers of the tail have 
whitish edges. The edge of the wing and the under coverts 
of the same are pale yellow. From the nostril extends over 
the eye a pale yellowish brown or ochre streak ; the space 
between the bill and eye is grey: the cheeks pale brown. 
The throat, breast, and flanks are pale brownish yellow; the 
yellow, on close examination, is, on the breast, chiefly dis¬ 
posed in longitudinal streaks : the belly is dirty white. In 
this plumage the bird has much the appearance of a willow- 
wren, but the colours are less clean, the olive above being 
more tinged with brown, and the under plumage of the 
body not so clearly white and yellow ; the former being 
sullied with dull grey, and the latter colour tinged with ochre. 
The iris in this species is dusky, the legs dark brown, and 
the soles of the feet yellowish. The beak is brown, the 
base of the under mandible flesh-colour, the gape yellow. 
In the plumage of the spring and summer, when these 
little birds are seen building their nests, or attending their 
young, their colours are so different that they can hardly 
be detected as the same birds. At these seasons, the 
green and yellow tints have entirely disappeared: the upper 
plumage has a uniform tint of mouse-coloured brown, and 
the under parts appear only dull greyish white, slightly 
tinged upon the breast with ochre. The male and female are 
almost entirely alike ; the latter a little smaller in size. The 
young birds resemble their parents in their autumnal dress. 
The entire length of the Chiff-chaff is four inches and a 
half. The bill measures from the forehead nearly four lines. 
The wing is two inches and a quarter from the carpus to the 
tip, and the tail extends about nine lines beyond the wings 
when closed; the third and fourth quill feathers of the wing 
are the longest. The tarsi measure about three quarters of 
an inch. The beak is thin, the tip of the upper mandible 
slightly notched, the nostrils oval, the gape beset with bristles. 
