204 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
.y 
nest, however, in one of the above-mentioned peaces ; and it 
would seem that the bird prefers a moister soil for its breeding 
haunts, such as is afforded by the lowlands near Ain Djendeli, 
where the tamarisk-trees grow on the banks of the Chemora 
and the small Ain or spring. The nest we found usually placed 
conspicuously in the fork or on a branch of one of these trees, 
and with apparently no attempt at concealment. The heights 
at which the structure is placed vary from one to six ieet from 
the ground. In one instance I found a nest among the roots 
of a tree in a bank-side, in a place where one would have 
expected in England to have found the nest of a Robin. The 
materials employed are the dead shoots of the tamarisk, which 
form the outside — the inside and the lining being usually Coot’s 
or Duck’s feathers, mingled with wool or camel s nair ; and, 
in nine cases out of ten, a small piece of serpent’s skin is 
loosely placed in the bottom of the nest.” It is curious that the 
presence of this piece of snake-skin is also mentioned by Mr. 
Howard Saunters, Canon Tristram, as well as by Mr. Seebohm, 
who found it in the nests of A. familiaris in Greece, where the 
natives declared it was woven by the birds into the nest as a 
charm, to prevent natives from sucking their eggs. 
E gg S . — Three to five in number. The ground-colour varies 
from dull white to bluish-grey, profusely marked with overlying 
streaks and spots or blotches of reddish-brown, being more 
densely clustered round the larger end, and with underlying 
spots of violet-grey ; one type is of a pals blue colour with tiny 
spots of reddish-brown uniformly scattered all over the egg. 
Axis, 0-85-0-95 inch ; diam., 0-65-0-7. 
the WILLOW-WARBLERS. GENUS PHYLLOSCOPUS. 
Phylloscopus, Boie, Isis., 1826, p. 972. 
Type, P. sibilator (Beehst.). 
The members of the genus Phylloscopus are small birds of 
delicate form and colour, the principal tints of the latter being 
green and yellow. Four species of the genus occur in Eng- 
land, three as breeding birds from the south, and one as an acci- 
dental visitor from the far east. The bill is somewhat like that 
of some of the Flycatchers, which these little Warblers to a 
certain extent resemble in their habits. The bill is beset 
