368 PHYLLOPNEUSTE SYLVICOLA. 



cover it, without watching the okl birds to it, either when they 

 are building, or carrying food to their young." 



Mr Weir informs me that he once found a nest of Wood- 

 wrens, " which was buih on the side of an old mossy ditch, 

 in the middle of a plantation, about 230 yards from the house. 

 They began it on Friday morning, the 2d of June 1837, and 

 finished it on Saturday afternoon. The female laid six eggs ; 

 the first on Sunday the 4th, and the last on Friday the 9th, 

 and began to sit on Saturday the 10th. The ground colour of 

 the eggs is white, with markings of reddish-purple. In shape 

 the nest was very much like the Willow Wren's, except that 

 instead of being lined with feathers, it was built with fine grass 

 and a few long hairs. I ginned the female, which was the 

 finest specimen that I ever saw, and shot the male. The colour 

 of the under part of their breast was a most beautiful pure sil- 

 very white, except the thighs, which were of a fine pale yel- 

 low. They have a very curious hissing and whistling trill, 

 from which no doubt they have got the name of Sibilatrix." 



My friend Mr Hepburn has favoured me with the following 

 notice respecting this bird. " It was on the 5th of May last 

 (1838), the thermometer at 58°, that I first observed the 

 Wood Wren, Sylvia sibilatrix. A solitary bird was skulking 

 about a hedge-row, which bounds a plantation on this farm 

 (Whittingham) ; the wind was cold, and the sky overcast. 

 The following morning w^as most delightful, dew-drops hung 

 from every spray, glistening like pearls in the rays of the 

 bright sun ; the Wood Wrens, joyous at returning to their 

 native land, and full of animation, were sporting about, and 

 making the woods resound w^itli their sweet wild notes. Nor 

 were our more common birds silent ; a mysterious sympathy 

 seemed to unite all in performing one common hymn of grate- 

 ful praise to the God of nature ; the very calmness of the clear 

 blue sky seemed to utter the gentle breathing of enjoyment. 

 For some time after their arrival, the male loves most to mount 

 to the very top of the tallest tree, where, adroitly poising him- 

 self, he pours forth his beautiful song, resembling the syllables 

 twee, twee, tii-ee, at first rather slow, but afterwards in a 

 hurried manner, and accompanied by a curious shake of the 



