BYGONE BIRDING (1902) : BRITAIN'S FIRST SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF BY WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE

                                                

IN October 1902 I received from the Sule Skerry lighthouse, a lonely rock-station situated out in the Atlantic and some 33 miles west of Orkney, an example of a Phylloscopus which had been captured at the lantern a short time previously, namely on the night of September 23. 

In order to preserve this specimen until such time as it was possible to despatch it to the mainland, the bird had been immersed in methylated spirit, and reached me in a sodden state.

On examination I found that it was a Chiffchaff, but its condition did not then allow me to detect the differences between the European and Asiatic species. 

Fortunately, however, I had the specimen preserved, and, having recently received a Chiffchaff from Fair Isle, I was led to examine the  lighthouse bird and other material relating to the genus. 

I then found that my old friend of 1902 was not the British and ordinary European species, but the bird known as the Siberian Chiffchaff, the Phylloscopus tristis. 

This was an interesting discovery, for the species has not been detected in Western Europe, not even on that wonderful island, Heligoland which has furnished so many surprises for ornithologists, especially those who are interested in the phenomenon of bird migration.

This new British bird is a summer visitor to North-eastern Europe and finds its western limit in the valley of the River Petchora where it was discovered by Messrs. J.A. Harvie-Brown and H. Seebohm during their notable investigations into the birds of that little-known region. 

Eastwards, the last-named naturalist found it nesting in the valley of the Yenesei, and it also occurs in summer in the highlands of Kashmir.

In winter, it is widely distributed over India, being only absent from the southern portion of the peninsula. 

The only record known to me for Europe, beyond the Petchora and Eastern Russia, is one for the river Po in Italy, as mentioned by Eduardo in  Avicula  in 1898.

In plumage, Phylloscopus tristis resembles our Chiffchaff  but is browner above and has the underparts buff, paler on the chin, throat, and abdomen.

The bill and legs are darker, the latter being blackish brown. 

It differs also from the Common Chiffchaff in its song which is loud but not musical.

Its nest was found by Henry Seebohm on the Lower Yenesei.

One which he describes was situated in the branches of an alder about 4 feet from the ground, and was semi-domed, composed of grass and lined with grouse feathers. 

The eggs are white, spotted with dark purple, and are large for the size of the bird.

* Photo: Bird seen in India (J.M.Garg via Wikipedia)