Perching Birds. 



57 



This is the lartrest of the 



of the body is sandy buff, whiter on the throat, breast and abdomen, with a wash 

 of cinnamon on the sides of the body. 



In Algeria and the countries where the Rufous Warbler nests, it is a hvely 

 bird, though quick of observation, and retiring to concealment on finding that its 

 movements are being watched. It has a habit of flirting its tail, the white-tipped 

 feathers of which render it somewhat conspicuous. The nest is usually placed m 

 the fork of a tree, made of dead tamarisk shoots or such-like material and lined 

 with feathers with usuall\- a piece of snake's skin added ! The eggs, from three to 

 five in number, are of a dull white, streaked and spotted with reddish-brown, and 

 violet-grey, especially near the larger end. 



The Wood-Warbler (Phyl/oscopns sibilntor). 

 Willow-\Vrens or Leaf- Warblers (Phylloscopi). which 

 come to the British Islands in summer. It is a 

 beautiful little bird, and its ways are so graceful and 

 butterfly-like, that anyone who has once seen the 

 species in life in our woods in spring, is not likely to 

 forget it. Just when the leaves are coming into life, 

 when the woods and plantations shew their greenest 

 tints, the Wood-Warbler makes its appearance, the 

 males preceding the females by some days. When the 

 latter arrive, the nest is actively prepared on the 

 ground beneath the budding trees, and the male can 

 be heard singing at intervals of a few moments from 

 the boughs above the selected spot. The nest is 

 built on the ground, and is partially domed, the 

 structure being of grass lined with horse-hair, but not 

 with feathers, like the nests of our other Willow- 

 Warblers. The eggs are from five to seven in 

 number, white, with very distinct spots and blotches 



of purplish-brown and violet-grey, generally collected round the larger end 

 of the egg. 



The Wood-Warbler is not only distinguished from its relatives by its large size, 

 but is yellowish-green above, and has a clear yellow eyebrow. The breast and 

 abdomen are white, and the first or bastard-primary does not reach to the end of the 

 primar^'-coverts, wliile the second primary quill exceeds the fifth in length. It breeds 

 in nearly every part of Great Britain and is generally distributed throughout 

 Europe in the summer, but does not nest in some of the more northern districts. It 

 winters in Western and North-eastern Africa. 



The Willo\v-W.\rhi.er (Phylloscopits trochiliis). This is a more dull-coloured 

 species than the Wood-Warbler, and may be told at any age by the wing- 

 formula, the second primary being intermediate in length between the fifth 



The Wood-Warbler. 

 The Willow- Warbler. 



