WILLOAV WARBLER. 303 



the larch trees become visibly green. The Willow War- 

 bler is to be found in greater numbers, as well as more 

 generally dispersed, than either the Wood Warbler or the 

 Chiff Chaff, with which it is generically united, and with 

 both of which it is sometimes confounded. This bird is, 

 however, readily distinguished from the Wood Warbler by 

 the darker olive green tint of the plumage of the upper 

 parts of the body ; by the light- coloured streak over the 

 eye being smaller, and not so well defined ; by all the under 

 surface of the body, and under tail- coverts being tinged with 

 yellow ; and by the shortness as well as by the structure 

 of the wing, the second feather of which is equal in length 

 to the sixth. From the Chiff Chaff, next to be described, 

 it is best distinguished by its pale brown legs, which in 

 the Chiff Chaff are very dark brown, or nearly black, 

 with the second feather of the wing equal in length to the 

 seventh. 



The Willow Warbler frequents woods, plantations, shrub- 

 berries, thick hedge-rows, and bushes on commons, is lively 

 and amusing in its actions, hopping or flying from branch 

 to branch, and capturing any small insect that comes in 

 its way. Its song, though possessing but little variety, 

 is soft and pleasing, sometimes given from a high tree, and 

 occasionally while on the wing, passing from place to place. 

 The nest is built on the ground ; and one of the situations 

 most commonly chosen for it is a wood hedge-bank among 

 long grass and coarse herbage. The nest is oval or rounded 

 in form, composed externally of moss and grass, with a 

 hole in the side through which the bird creeps to the hol- 

 low space within, which is lined with feathers. The eggs 

 are six or seven in number, white, with numerous small 

 specks of pale red ; the length of the egg seven lines and 

 a half, and six lines in breadth. Mr. Henry Doubleday 

 tells me he has seen the eggs of this bird of a pure 



