25 



WOOD-WAEBLEK. 



Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechstein). 



Local Names — J]\)od-]Vren, Fdl-Pcf/fiij. 



A summer migrant : not so common as the Willow- 

 Warbler, but much more plentiful than the Chiifchaff. 

 Its times of arrival and departure are probably about as 

 stated by Blackwall (" Eesearches in Zoology," p. 6), 

 viz., April 28th and September 6th, varying little from 

 these. Its favourite localities are those in which plenty 

 of wooded heights occur, and in the south of the county 

 it is seldom seen. Byerley ("Fauna of Liverpool," 

 1856), says that it is rare near Liverpool, and south-east 

 of Manchester Mr. John Hardy has not seen a nest 

 since 1849, when there were two pairs breeding in Hough 

 End Clough. It is found at Prestwich and Middleton, and 

 breeds rarely in Eossendale. It is common and breeds 

 betw^een Preston and Pleasington ; and about Haighton, 

 though rare, it occurs regularly. In Furness, Mr. W\ A. 

 Durnford says it breeds numerously. At Eead and 

 Huhtroyde, near Padiham, it is common, though not so 

 much so as formerly, and its nest is occasionally found 

 on Whalley Nab. Near Clitheroe it breeds every year in 

 the woods at the foot of Pendle Hill, but Longridge Fell 

 and the wooded banks of the Hodder are its favourite 

 habitat, and there it may almost be called numerous. 

 The nest, loosely made of dry grass, is always well con- 

 cealed among either dead leaves or growing herbage, and 

 of itself, would be very difficult to find ; but if the piece 

 of ground near which a cock bird is singing be rapidly 

 tramped over so as to disturb the hen from the nest, she 



