65 
Our British Song Birds. 
By G. H. Storer, F.Z.S. 
Read before the Soctety, April 20th, 1899. 
epee BRHADS at no season of the year are our British 
Song Birds more in evidence than during the 
months of April and May, for then the numbers of our 
resident songsters, long since in full voice, and some of 
them even with nests of clamorous young, are recruited by 
the arrival of the migratory warblers from the south. The 
first of these to arrive is the tiny Chiffchaff, which often 
cheerfully braves the boisterous winds of March, and, by 
the beginning of April, is always to be seen and heard in 
every clump of trees. When he first arrives, he frequents 
the willows on the borders of streams, for there insect-life 
is most abundant, and pours forth cheerily his simple 
song—a mere repetition of syllables which compose his 
name, with sometimes a ‘Chivvy, Churry” added; yet 
his is a pleasant voice, and, to the naturalist, is especially 
welcome as the herald of Spring. 
