THE CHIFFCHAFF. 



Phylloscopus rufus (Bechstein). 

 Plate 6, 



This is the earliest of all our summer Warblers, sometimes reaching our shores 

 in the beginning of March, though usually about the end of that month. Common 

 in the southern and western parts of England, it becomes rarer or more local in 

 Norfolk, Lancashire, and part of Yorkshire, its numbers again increasing in the 

 north of England, but diminishing in Scotland. It is widely spread over Europe, 

 wintering on both sides of the Mediterranean. 



In habits it seems more partial to the upper branches of tall trees than its near 

 relation, the Willow-Wren, and may often be heard in such situations delivering 

 its double notes of chiff, chaff, which compose its song, and from which it has 

 derived its name. Often the bird will add a number of low chirping notes after 

 the others. The latest date on which I have heard its song was the 2nd of 

 October. 



It often enters gardens in search of the caterpillars and insects on which it feeds. 



Hidden among herbage, the domed nest, with the entrance at the side, is 

 usually placed just above the ground, and is composed of dry grass and moss, 

 with a lining of feathers. The five or six eggs are white, with dark purplish- 

 red spots. 



In appearance the Chiffchaff is very like the Willow- Wren, but differs in being 

 rather smaller, slightly browner in colour, and the legs are of a darker brown. The 

 wing also is more rounded in form, the second primary being about the same 

 length as the seventh, while in the Willow-Wren the second is intermediate in 

 length between the fifth and sixth. 



There is a slightly larger and paler form, known as the Northern Chiffchaff, 

 P. abietina (Nilsson), which has once occurred in the Isle of Wight, and also the 

 Siberian Chiffchaff, P. tristis, Blyth, several of which have been obtained on 

 migration in Scotland. 



The last-mentioned form is distinguished from our bird by the browner colour 

 of the upper parts, and by the absence of any yellow beneath, except on the under 

 tail coverts and axillaries. 



The sexes are alike in plumage. 



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