The Wood Wren 



end of April that he reaches our shores and his clear and 

 melodious little song, which may be syllabled as '•' chit, chit, 

 chit, chit, tri-tr-tr-tre," can be heard. His favourite haunts 

 are suitable woods where large timber, especially beech, 

 abound. Here he may be seen as, with the restless activity 

 so characteristic of his family, he searches among the upper 

 branches of the trees for those insects which, with berries 

 of all kinds, form his staple food. 



At the foot of some beech-tree, on the ground, or more 

 rarely in some tangled thicket, the nest is built and well 

 concealed by the use of materials similar to the surround- 

 ings among which it is placed. It is lined with grass and 

 horsehair, but feathers, so freely used by the Chiffchaff and 

 Willow Wren, are never found. The eggs are white, very 

 thickly and uniformly mottled with dark red. After the 

 young are hatched it becomes silent, and leaves us early in 

 September. 



The adult has the upper parts of a bright yellowish 

 green, with a characteristic yellow streak above and behind 

 the eye. The wings are brown edged with yellowish green. 

 Throat and breast sulphur yellow, rest of under parts white. 

 Bill and legs brown. Length 5*2 in. ; wing 3'1 in. The 

 larger size and brighter coloration are distinctive of this 

 species. 



It is a local bird, but may be found in suitable spots 

 throughout the United Kingdom. In the north, however, it 

 becomes rarer. 



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