78 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BUBMAH. 
As the summer goes on the wing-bars get worn away and the upper one 
is sometimes absent. The lower plumage gets whiter and the upper 
plumage duller. After the autumn moult the wing-bars are very con- 
spicuous and the underparts become suffused with deeper yellow. 
Upper mandible dark brown^ the edges and tip yellow ; gape and basal 
half of the lower mandible orange-yellow^ terminal half dusky ; mouth 
bright orange- yellow ; iris dark brown ; legs flesh-colour^ tinged with 
yellow ; claws yellowish horn-colour. 
Length 4*8 inches^ tail 2, wing 2*7^ tarsus '8^ bill from gape '68 : the 
second primary is intermediate in length between the fifth and sixths and is 
sometimes equal to the sixth ; the first primary is very small^ measuring 
from '3 to '45 inch in length. The female is about the same size as the 
male. 
P. xanthodryas from China is very likely to occur in Burmah. It is a 
larger bird than P. borealis and of a bright greenish yellow beneath. The 
second primary is intermediate to the fifth and sixths but the first one is 
longer than in P. borealis, being never less than and frequently 
attaining a length of '6 inch. 
The Arctic Willow- Warbler is a winter visitor to Burmah. I found it 
a tolerably common bird every year in the vicinity of Pegu and Kyeik- 
padein^ and I have observed it as early as the 12th of September. Mr. 
Davison found it in the southern half of Tenasserim at Shymotee, Banka- 
soon and Malewoon. It will probably also be found both in Arrakan and 
in Karennee. 
Out of Burmah this Warbler has a most extensive range. In winter it 
is found in the Malay peninsula and archipelago as far as Timor and 
Flores^ and Dr. Tiraud gives it from Cochin China. It has been procured 
in the Andaman Islands^ but not as yet in India or in any of the Indo- 
Burmese countries. On migration in spring and autumn it passes through 
China and it summers in Northern Asia^ penetrating into the adjacent 
parts of Europe and America^ and it has occasionally straggled as far west 
as Heligoland. 
In habits this species is arboreal — never, I believe, descending to the 
ground. It is found in mango or other trees infested with minute insects, 
searching the leaves and occasionally fluttering from branch to branch in 
pursuit of some small fly. Its note is monotonous and low. Mr. Seebohm 
found the nest in Siberia at Egaska in lat. 67° on the 6th of July. It 
was built on the ground in a wood thinly scattered with trees, and was 
placed in a recess on the side of a tussock or mound of grass. It was 
semidomed, the outside being composed of moss and the inside of fine dry 
grass. The eggs, five in number, were white profusely spotted all over 
with pale pink. 
