SHORT-WINGED WOODWREN. 381 



cies, generally delaying its departure until the beginniiig of 

 October. Individuals indeed have been known to remain all 

 winter. Thus Montagu mentions two that were seen in his 

 garden about Christmas, and I have in my collection a speci- 

 men shot near Newhaven, in a turnip field, in January 1836. 



In spring it is first observed among bushes in sheltered places, 

 in nursery-grounds and gardens, searching among the twigs for 

 insects, pecking the buds in quest of larva?, and sallying forth 

 occasionally on wing in, pursuit of a passing gnat or other fly. 

 As it proceeds it emits at intervals its notes, which are shrill, 

 rather weak, and seem to resemble the syllables cheep, cheep, 

 cheep, cheep, chee, rather than chiff-chaff, cherry churry, as some 

 have interpreted them. It nestles from the beginning to the 

 middle of June, and seems to rear two broods in the season. 

 The nest is of an elliptical form, being arched over, with the 

 aperture near the top, and is composed of withered leaves, 

 grass, and fibrous roots, with a lining of feathers. The eggs 

 are five or six, seven-twelfths in length, five and a half twelfths 

 in breadth, white, with purplish-red spots chiefly near the 

 larger end. " On a sloping bank," Mr Weir writes to me, 

 " in Glenmavis, a beautiful and romantic valley, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bathgate, belonging to Mrs Marjoribanks of Bal- 

 bardie, in the last week of June 1886, I discovered a nest 

 of the Chifl'-chafl'. In its structure it resembled that of the 

 Willow-wren, but it was not so neatly finished. The outside 

 of it was composed of dried grass, and the inside lined with 

 feathers. It was carefully concealed amongst moss. The eggs 

 were five, white with purple-red markings." It is usually 

 placed on the ground, among grass or moss, on a hedge-bank, 

 or by a ditch or brook. 



According to authors this species is generally distributed on 

 the continent, extending as far north as Norway in summer, 

 and remaining in some of the southern parts in winter. 



Young. — The young when fledged are similar to the adult, 

 from which they can scarcely be distinguished. The yellow 

 tints on their lower parts are brighter, their bill is much lighter, 

 and the tarsi and toes are of a paler brown. 



