8S ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



plumage, the head, back and wings are of an oHve- 

 green hue, and the throat and breast yellowish-white 

 merging into almost pure white beneath. Above 

 the eye is a yellowish streak. Its nest is practically 

 identical with that of the Chiffchaff, and the large, 

 dome-shaped mass is lined with a cosy bed of soft 

 curling feathers, many of which have been brought 

 from long distances. This nest formation has given 

 rise to two local names — Oven-bird and Feather- 

 poke — which are applied to the Willow Wren and 

 Chiffchaff indiscriminately. The nest is placed 

 sometimes upon level ground amidst the grass and 

 undergrowth of plantation and shrubbery, but more 

 frequentlv upon some bank overgrown with tangled 

 herbage, which skirts the country lane or the path 

 through the wood. 



Mr. Metcalfe states that he has found the nest in 

 thick bushes two feet from the ground, and on one 

 occasion in a hole made by a ^Nlarsh Tit in a gate- 

 post. The photograph shows another unusual 

 circumstance — a Robin's old nest in a brick wall five 

 feet from the ground appropriated by a Willow 

 Wren. This nest was re-lined and domed over by 

 the newcomer. Mr. ^Metcalfe remarks that the 

 Robin had already reared her brood that season in 

 the same site, and that the spring was so winter- 

 like that he had twice cleared away the snow from 

 the nest when the Redbreast was sitting. The 

 exceptional severity of the season may account for 

 the AVillow Wren's departure from its usual habit. 



As the seasons imperceptibly merge one into the 

 other, the advent of each is marked by a visible sign, 



