74 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



building, and mighty fussy and important they were 

 about it." Mr. C. Collingwood gives April 10, 1854, for 

 the arrival at Elmstead in Kent. 



The dates of arrivals in Kent of the Willow-Warbler, 

 given in the Bulletin of the B.O.C., 1905, are April 10, 

 11, 12, and they increased on April 27 and 28. 



Two or three were observed in the Orlestone district 

 on April 22, 1906, and it was not until April 28 that the 

 first was seen at Uuckinge. It remained feeding on the 

 lawn in front of the house for a week. 



Dr. A. G. Butler describes in the Zoologist a nest of 

 this species, and says : " I obtained a nest of the Willow- 

 AVarbler in which the dome-like covering was wholly 

 absent ; the nest was in a most singular position, being 

 placed upon the earth under a gooseberry bush in an 

 orchard, one of the rough clods somewhat overhanging it, 

 and thus rendering the completion of the nest unneces- 

 sary. This nest is composed almost entirely of slender 

 dry grasses, thickly lined inside with dark soft feathers ; it 

 contains four eggs, which are unusually well marked with 

 large red-brown spots." And in his British Birds' Eggs 

 he remarks : " Though commonly placed upon the ground, 

 the nest is not invariably found in that position ; one that 

 I took on June 16, 1881, was built over 2 feet from the 

 ground in the drooping branches of a wild rose-bush in 

 a garden at Tunstall in Kent." 



Four specimens of this species were shot on April 

 27, 1879, at Boxley. They were all males and in non- 

 breeding plumage. 



On April 29, 1906, four Willow-Warblers were seen in 

 the sallows overhanging a large pond at Bilsington ; they 

 were acting the Flycatcher by springing up into the air 

 for their prey. 



