CHIFF CHAFF, 309 



it is frequently heard and seen as late as the middle of Oc- 

 tober. Montagu states in his Supplement that he saw this 

 species several times in the winters of 3 806 and 1808 in 

 Devonshire ; and Mr. Neville Wood, as mentioned by Mr. 

 Hewitson, has heard its note as early as the 5th of February ; 

 but on the occurrence of an unusually late spring, the song 

 was not heard by the same gentleman in the north of Eng- 

 land till the 21st of April. 



Mr. Sweet says, " The ChifF Chaff is easily taken in a 

 trap, and soon becomes tame in confinement. One that he 

 caught was so familiar as to take a fly from his fingers ; it 

 also learned to drink milk out of a tea-spoon, of which it was 

 so fond that it would fly after it all round the room, and 

 perch on the hand that held it, without showing the least 

 symptom of fear ; it wovdd also fly up to the ceiling, and 

 bring down a fly in its beak every time. 



The ChiflP Chaff is nowhere so abundant as the Willow 

 Warbler ; it is, however, found, though few in number, 

 in all the southern counties from Sussex to Cornwall and 

 Wales ; but Mr. Thompson sends me word it is not so 

 abundant in Ireland as Sylvia trochUus. It is found in 

 Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Derbyshire, Westmoreland, York- 

 shire, Durham, and Northumberland ; but further to the 

 north in this country I am unable to trace it. Mr. Hewit- 

 son noticed it in Norway ; and on the European Continent, 

 in summer, it is generally distributed to the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, and is even common in Italy in winter. It 

 was also seen by Mr. Strickland at Smyrna in November. 



This little bird has the beak shorter and narrower at the 

 base than that of the Willow Warbler ; the legs very dark 

 brown, and the general tone of the colour of the plumage 

 has more of brown and less of green than that bird ; it is 

 on this latter account, probably, that the ChifF Chaff has also 

 been called the Lesser Pettychaps, its plumage bearing some 



