66 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Phylloscopi 
Of Larus marinus mostly dark-coloured young ones are to 
be seen, and L. canus and L. ridibundus , bearing now their 
winter dress. L. minutus and Hcematopus ostralegus we did 
not see after leaving Berezoff, nor the Crane, of which I 
got a half-grown young bird on the 7th of September. Large 
flocks of the last-named species were going south, and most 
of the birds are already emigrating and bidding farewell to 
the north. We are about to follow them, but in a western 
direction and more slowly; for we have still to travel about 
2500 versts in a carriage to the first railway, at Nishni- 
Novgorod, which will, we hope, take us safely and quickly 
home. 
YI. —On the Phylloscopi or Willow-Warblers. 
By Henry Seebohm, F.Z.S. 
The Phylloscopi , or Willow-Warblers, are a group of about 
thirty species of birds, the synonymy of which has hitherto 
been in much confusion. The differences between many of the 
species are very slight; and the descriptions of some of them are 
so meagre, that it is difficult to determine to which they belong 
without access to the type specimens. They may be described 
as Warblers with more or less slender bills, varying in the 
colour of their plumage from olive-green to brown in the 
upper parts, and from yellow, with an occasional dash of buff 
or green, to white underneath. Some of the stout-billed 
species have bills as large and broad as those of the smaller 
species of the genus Hypolais , whilst others have bills as small 
and slender as in the genus Regains. Others, again, approach 
the more brilliantly coloured species of the genus Abrornis . 
It is possible that a careful study of the allied genera may 
lead to a rearrangement of the whole family; but this ques¬ 
tion must be left to a future paper. For our present purpose 
it will be enough to point out the following distinctions be¬ 
tween the various sections of Phylloscopus and the members 
of the allied genus Hypolais « 
