376 PHYLLOPNEUSTE TROCHILUS. 



ed dots and spots, generally roundish, and not exceeding half 

 a twelfth in their diameter, of a pale purplish-red. When 

 blown, their ground colour becomes pure white, but the spots 

 remain unaltered. They vary considerably in size, and a little 

 in the tint of their spots, which are sometimes crowded at the 

 larger end, and sometimes very thinly scattered. 



Mr Weir informs me that on Friday the 2d of June 1837, 

 he discovered " in a sloping bank, in his neighbourhood, a 

 nest of the Willow Wren, built amongst long grass. The 

 framework of it was composed of the stems of dried grass, in- 

 termixed with green moss, and the inside was lined principally 

 with the feathers of the female pheasant. The entrance into 

 it was wider than that of the Common Wren. The eggs were 

 seven, white, with rusty brown spots, thinly dispersed, except 

 at the larger end." 



The eggs vary in number from four to seven, in form from 

 oval to roundish, in length from seven to seven and a half 

 twelfths, in the tint of the spots from light red to purplish -red, 

 and in the number and distribution of the spots. The young 

 are abroad from the middle to the end of June, when they be- 

 take themselves to bushes and trees ; but a second brood is 

 reared, and comes abroad in the beginning of August. 



The male during the period of incubation often continues 

 perched on a tree or bush for a long time, emitting at intervals 

 its song, which in calm weather may be heard at the distance 

 of six hundred yards or more. It seldom however remains 

 many minutes in the same spot, but shifts from twig to twig. 

 Having gone out w^ith a friend, Mr Madden, on the 14th June 

 1837, to observe the habits of this bird and the Whinchat, 

 both of which are plentiful along the base of the Pentland 

 Hills, I first fell in with a male singing most melodiously, and 

 at very short intervals, as it shifted and flitted about among the 

 whin bushes. After watching it some time I shot it; and pre- 

 sently after, entering Swanston Wood, I came upon another 

 perched on the summit of a tall tree, amusing itself in the same 

 manner. It has been stated that the Woodwren frequents the 

 top branches of lofty trees, while the Willow Wren keeps on 

 the lower branches or in bushes ; but I believe this distinction 



