l-tJr TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



VI. — ^TuE Willow Warbler. 

 (Phi/Uoscopus Irochihis. ) 



Of all the birds that make their summer home with us, the 

 Willow Warbler is surely one of the most attractive. It seems 

 to have greatly increased in numbers during the last score of 

 years. With the expansion of the emerald-green buds of the 

 larch we may look for the arrival of this most lively little bird, 

 nor are we ever disappointed. Soon its pretty song is heard 

 from every hedgerow, and every bush holds the singer. Thence- 

 forth, from mid-April till nearly June, wave after wave of 

 Willow Warblers comes along. It is interesting to notice how 

 for some days we see almost the same birds in their accustomed 

 places. Then at daylight some morning there are scores where 

 only one pair of birds were to be seen the previous evening. 

 Gradually, or suddenly, these thin oflE until there remain only 

 those who are going to stay with us the summer through. Again 

 and again there is a successive influx, until by the time the first 

 comers have their beautiful domed and feather-lined nests filled 

 with eggs, the last of the most northerly-going migrants has 

 flown past. 



The songs of the AVillow Warblers make up a very large 

 amount of tlie volume of sound during the season of song. In 

 a once much-discussed and much-quoted article. Canon Kingsley 

 described the song of the Willow Warbler as being so sad that 

 one could hardly listen to it without tears. That was a mere 

 imaginative libel on the bird, for no other songster has in reality 

 so cheerful and charming a little carol, or such clear and 

 melodious ringing notes. 



From a practical point of view it is one of the most useful 

 species we have. What legions of insects are destroyed by it 

 during its summer sojourn ! And some of the insects of which 

 it is fondest are amongst the greatest and most insidious foes 

 of the cultivator — I refer to the myriad numbers of the Aphidae 

 and their kindred. 



Usually situated on the ground level, I have at times found 

 the nest of this bird placed as much as live feet up in a thick 



