226 The Field Naturalist s Quarterly August 



seems never to cease singing night or day if there is any 

 creature near to hear it. A loud, varied, scolding song, 

 rapidly performed — " chow, chow, chow, chce-chee-chiddy- 

 iddy-chur-chur," followed by notes borrowed from half a 

 dozen other birds. Because it sings at night it is com- 

 monly mistaken for the nightingale by those who have no 

 acquaintance with the song of the latter. 



The Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella ncsvid), not un- 

 common in many districts, is about the size of the latter, 

 and the young naturalist should not trouble to took for it. 

 If it is about he will be sure to hear its most extraordinary 

 song, which sounds most like the noise produced by a very 

 weak pea whistle, by an angler's reel when running out, the 

 wind through a single telegraph-wire, or the " note " of a 

 large grasshopper long continued. Heard in a quiet 

 country lane late in the evening, or even at midnight, it is 

 very impressive and impossible to mistake. 



The Wren {Troglodytes parvulus), though erroneously 

 described in the story-books as the smallest of birds, is 

 certainly very diminutive, and less than any of the birds 

 previously referred to. This little favourite, which often 

 comes into town gardens, is of a rich brown colour, with 

 narrow transverse darker bars on its feathers, which are not 

 streaked down their length as those of so many birds are. 

 It haunts hedge bottoms, tree stumps, brambles, etc., and 

 usually keeps close to the ground. Moving about its 

 haunts like a mouse it carries its tail cocked straight up over 

 its back unlike any other bird. Its loud song is sung in 

 quicker time than that of almost any other bird. 



The Tree-Creeper (Certhia familiaris), which well deserves 

 its common name, is not very much bigger than the last. 

 It haunts chiefly thick woods of large trees, and spends all 

 its working time climbing, more like a mouse than a bird, 

 up the trunks of the trees. It ascends with jerky motion, 

 flitting now and again from the upper part of one tree to 

 the lower part of another in order to renew its upward 

 course. Its general colour is reddish brown streaked with 

 buff. It has a long curved beak and stiff pointed tail, 

 which it keeps pressed against the tree to assist it in 

 climbing. There is no mistaking it for anything else. 



