vteillot's willow warbler. 59 



Fauvette des Roseaux, Buffon; PI. Enl., 581. 



Bee-fin Icterine, Of the French. 



Becca-fin Itterino, Of the Italians. 



Specific Characters. — Above, olive grey ; primaries and tail quills 

 brown, bordei-ed with olive grey; below, lore, neck, sides, and 

 saperciliary ridge yellow. Wings in repose reach to middle of 

 tail; first primary rather longer than the fourth, and nearly equal 

 to (but still longer than) the third, the second longest. 



Dimensions. — Mean of fifteen individuals measured by M. Z, 

 Gerbe, reduced to English measurements: — Total length, from tip 

 of beak to end of tail, 5.2 inches; from carpus to tip 3.04 inches. 

 Tarsus one inch; beak from point to origin 0.44 inches; maximum 

 depth (hauteur) of beak, 0.16 inches; maximum breadth of same, 

 0.24 inches. 



This bird was first described as a new species by 

 Vieillot, in 1817, for some time after whicb it seems 

 to have undergone in scientific works, many vicissitudes, 

 — tlie usual fate of tbose subjects in natural history in 

 which there exists a great family resemblance. It is in 

 fact so closely allied to Sylvia Mppolais, (Latham,) — a 

 name unfortunately given by British writers to the 

 Chiif-Chafi" — that M, Temminck's designation and des- 

 cription of that bird is really applicable to S. icterina. 

 M. Temminck also made another mistake in fiofurinsf a 

 large specimen in autumn plumage of Sylvia trochilus, 

 and describing the same in the second edition of the 

 "Manual" as S. icterina. The Prince of Canino also 

 figured this bird in the "Fauna Italica" as Sylvia hip- 

 polais ; and the Honourable M. De Selys-Longchamps 

 made a similar mistake in the "Faune Beige," in 1842. 

 It is to M, Z. Gerbe that we are indebted in the 

 "Eevue Zoologique" for 1846, and in the "Dictionary 

 of Natural History" for 1848, for restoring this bird 

 to its proper place among the European species, and 



