130 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



my own personal acquaintance with it in this county- 

 is very shght. Mr. Bljth^ thus speaks of its notes and 

 actions — " The warble of the babillard or lesser white- 

 throat is pretty and lively, but its song is rendered 

 monotonous in the spring and summer by the constant 

 repetition of its loud note of defiance, analagous to the 

 clear lively note with which the blackcap generally con- 

 cludes ; this may be expressed by the monosyllable see, 

 repeated nine or ten times in quick succession, and at 

 times very loudly. -^ * ^ The song of this bird is 

 very superior to that of many whitethroats, but not to 

 all ; he has none of those harsh sounding notes which so 

 often disfigure the whitethroat's song. He seems also to 

 be always in such high spirits as not to know how to 

 contain himself, taking frequently a long circuitous 

 flight from tree to tree, and back again a dozen times, 

 seemingly for no other purpose than mere exercise ; but 

 he never mounts singmg into the air like the white- 

 throat." He also refers to its preference for lofty elms 

 and other trees, in the place of low bushes or roadside 

 fences, which quite agrees with my own limited observa- 

 tions of its habits in this neiorhbourhood. 



SYLVIA SYLVICOLA, Latham. 



WOOD-WARBLEE. 



A regular summer visitant arriving in April, but 

 later than either of the two next species, and leaving us 

 again in September. By no means so numerous as the 

 willow-warbler, this bhd is particularly local in its 

 distribution. The few examples that find their way 



* " On the British Fruit-eating Warblers."—" Field Naturalist," 

 vol. i., p. 306. 



