The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives/Yellow-browed Warbler
YELLOW BROWED WARBLER.
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YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER.
Croatian, Zenica zlatoglavka; Czechisch, Pruhohlávek skromny; French, Roitelet modeste; Italian, Proregolo; German, Gelbbrauiger Laubsanger, Hungarian, Körályka Lombzenér; Swedish, Kungsfogellika Sångaren.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLUMAGE.
Adult in Spring.—The sexes are alike, but the male is a trifle brighter. The upper parts are of a darkish olive green, slightly brighter and greener on the rump. There is a distinct superciliary stripe of whitish yellow and a very indistinct lighter line along the centre of the crown. The lores are dark greyish, and continuing behind the eye from the superciliary line are two distinct stripes. The sides of the face and neck are light olive green tinged with grey, each small feather on the cheek being furnished with a whitish yellow centre line. The upper parts of the wings are dark brownish grey. The least wing-coverts are tinged with olive green and have very narrow light margins; the medium and greater secondary coverts are tipped with white, forming two distinct bands on the wing. The bastard wing and greater primary coverts are of the same colour as the wing, but not tipped with the whitish colour. The outer edge of the flight-feathers are narrowly margined with yellowish green, a trifle broader and lighter on the innermost secondaries. The under parts of the wings are grey, margined with a whitish colour. The under wing-coverts and axillaries are white, the latter being tinged with sulphur yellow. The upper part of the tail is brownish grey narrowly edged with olive green, and the shafts reddish brown, the under part light grey and the shafts white. The under parts of the body are whitish, striped with very indistinct sulphur yellow. The belly is pure white, the under tail-coverts light sulphur yellow, and the sides of the breast and flanks washed with light olive grey and striped with olive yellow. The bill is dark horn colour, and the base of the lower mandible ochre. Tarsus and toes are fleshy brown.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.
To Europe it is only an accidental visitor on migration. There are twenty records of its occurrence in Great Britain, nine of which have been in England, seven on Fair Isle, and one respectively at Sumburgh Head, Skerryvore Lighthouse in the outer Hebrides, Tearaght Lighthouse off co. Kerry, and Trescoe in the Scilly Isles.
There is only one record from France, one from Holland, and one specimen was killed at a lighthouse in Denmark, but on the island of Heligoland numerous specimens have been obtained, principally on autumn migration. To Germany, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy it is only a rare straggler, but further east it gradually becomes more common. On migration it visits the districts round St. Petersburg, the valley of the Northern Dwina and the Province of Orenburg. The western breeding limit seems to be the Province of Perm. It occurs in the valleys of the Rivers Ob and Lena, and is very common in the valley of the Yenisei up to 70° northern latitude. It is also found near Kultuk, Tsurukaitui, along the River Shilka, and at the mouth, of the River Amur. In the region lying to the north of this latter river it is more numerous, and still further north, in the Stanovoi Mountains and along the border of the Sea of Okhotsk, becomes very plentiful. The coast of the Sea of Japan is also visited. The southern range is an extensive one, the bird visiting the districts around Peking. Fu-chau, the Alpine zone of Turkestan, and Kashmir.
It winters in Southern China, Formosa, Burma, and parts of India.
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER.
IMMATURE.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION DURING SUMMER.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION DURING WINTER.