PHYLLOSCOrUS M AGNIEOSTEIS. 
(THE LARGE-BILLED TREE-WARBLER.) 
Phylloscopus magnirostris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1843, xii. p. 966 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 191 
(1863) ; Brooks, Ibis, 1872, p. 26 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 439 (first printed record 
from Ceylon) ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 22 ; Brooks, Str. Featb. 1875, p. 243 ; Seebohm, 
Ibis, 1877, p. 77 ; Hume, B. of Tenass., Str. Feath. 1878, p. 352. 
Pkyllopieuste magnirostris (Bl.), G. R. Gray, App. Hodgs. Cat. B. of Nep. p. 15 (1846). 
Phyllogiseuste magnirostris (BL), Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 236. 
Pkylloscopus javanicus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 185 (1849). 
The Large-billed Willow-Warbler. 
A^dult 'lYUilc and female, L6iigth 4*9 to 5*2 inches ; wing 2*5 to 2*75 ; tail 1*85 to 2*0 ; tarsus Ow to 0*8 ; middle toe 
and claw 0*55 ; bill to gape 0*5 to 0*6. 
Iris light or yellowish brown ; bill dark horn, with the base and tip of lower mandible fleshy ; gape pale ; legs and feet 
bluish grey or dusky bluish. 
Above dusky olive-greenish, paling on the rump ; wings and tail brown, edged with a pale greeni,sh hue, and the latter 
tipped with the same ; greater coverts with pale terminal spots, forming a wing-bar ; a whitish supercilium from 
the nostril over the eye to the ear-coverts ; lores and a moderately large space behind the eye dark brov u ; cheeks 
mingled brown and greenish white ; beneath whitish, washed with flavescent greenish, with the flanks and sides of 
the chest cinereous brownish (in some the whole chest is overcast with dusky) ; under tail-coverts greenish v'hite ; 
under wing gi*eeuish yellow. 
Ois. This Warbler is easily recognized from the last species by its stouter build and darker upper plumage, also by 
the dark head and space behind the eye, over which the rather conspicuous supercilium reaches ; these are differ- 
ences which prevent it being confounded for a moment with P. nitidus, where the larger bill might at first be 
overlooked, especially as this varies somewhat in size. 
This Willow- Wai*bler is very closely allied to F. lugubris, another Indian species, the only reliable point of difference 
between the two being the proportion of the primary quills to one another. In the present species the 2nd and 
8th primaries are siihequal, whereas in P. lugubris, the 2nd primary is shorter than the 8th. In one of my skins 
from Ceylon, the 2nd primary is somewhat shorter than the 8 th ; but it is so exactly identical with the rest of mj 
series that it is not advisable to separate it. Mr. Seebohm has examined it and is of the same opinion. On the 
whole, I think, the wing of P. Iwjubris is shorter than in the present species ; several specimens from Sikkim I 
have examined measure as follows ; — 2*6, 2*oo, 2*4, 2*6, § 2*5 inches, and they are, as a whole, a trifle darker on 
the upper surface than P. magnirostris. I have not procured a female of this latter with the wdng less than 
2*5 inches, and one specimen measures 2*6, although I see that Mr. Seebohm, in his excellent paper on the Phyl- 
loscopi already referred to, gives a minor limit of 2*23. Two examples from India measure 2 83 and 2*5 inches in 
the wing. 
ig reason to infer why P. lugubris should not occur in Ceylon j and I commend the subject of its discoveij' 
there to those who may hereafter pay attention to this genus in the island. 
Both these species much resemble the Willow-Wren of Europe, P .trochilus; but this latter has no wing-bar, is slightly 
greener on the back, and the throat, chest, and under wing-coverts are washed with a brighter greenish yellow ; 
the bill is smaller and legs longer. An example in my collection measures : — length 5*1 inches, wing 2*6o, tad 
2*1, tarsus 0*85, bill to gape 0*5. Iris brown ; bill, upper mandible brown, lower fleshy ; legs and feet brown. 
Distribution. — Like the last species, this Tree- Warbler is migratory in the cool season to Ceylon, arriving 
and departing much about the same time as that bird. It is common in many parts of the island, particularly in the 
forest-region of the northern half and in the Eastern Province. I found it likewise in considerable numbers 
in some parts of the North-west Province, particularly on the Deduru oya and its tributaries, and also in the 
Ikkade-Barawe forest and other spots in the Western Province. In the Kandy country and in the upper hills 
it is likewise common. It was particularly abundant during the cool season of 1876-/7; in January 1877, at 
