BIRDS OF THE WOODLANDS 85 



the Chiffchaff, and the sweetly plaintive carol of the 

 Willow Wren, anv confusion of the species would 

 appear to be impossible. 



Of the three, the Wood W^ren is slightly the 

 largest, its total length being 5f inclies as against 

 4f for the Chiffchaff, and 5 for the Willow Wren. 

 In colour, the head, back and wings are of a 

 yellowish olive-green, and the throat and breast of 

 a delicate sulphur-yellow merging into pure white 

 beneath. One distinguishing mark is the bright- 

 yellow streak above the eye, which, although it 

 occurs in both the Willow Wren and Chiffchaff, is, 

 in the two latter, slightly less clearly defined. 



The distinctions between the Wood Wren and the 

 Willow Wren are that the former is somewhat 

 larger, has comparatively longer wings, and is 

 greener above and more clearlv white beneath. The 

 difference between the Willow Wren and the Chiff- 

 chaff, on the other hand, lies in the fact that the 

 Chiffchaff is slightly smaller, has obviously shorter 

 wings, is less yellow in hue, and that the legs in 

 place of the lighter brown are of a dark purplish- 

 brown. 



The nest of the W^ood Wren may at once be 

 distinguished from those of its two congeners by the 

 fact that it is lined with hair and never with feathers. 

 It is built on the ground, hidden in the tangled 

 herbage on some slight slope at the feet of the forest 

 trees, and generally in the least frequented part of 

 the woods. It is a somewhat noteworthy fact that 

 so many woodland birds, in choosing a nesting site, 

 select the edges of clearings, or the banks on the 

 roadsides, rather than the deeper recesses of the 



