32 THE WOOD-WREN 
except in the extreme west of England, wherever there are hay- 
fields and trees these birds are to be found; they build their nests 
principally of hay, and very frequently place it in the border of 
a hay-field. But, by whatever name it is known, it is a cheerful 
and active little bird, to which our woods and groves are much 
indebted for their melody. It is abundant and generally diffused, 
arriving in England early in April, and remaining until the middle 
ofSeptember. During the greater part of this period, it may be seen 
fluttering about the tops of trees, hunting the twigs and leaves for 
insects, and occasionally catching flies on the wing. It often, too, 
descends to the ground, and picks up insects among the herbage. 
I have never heard it sing on the ground; but while employing 
itself aloft, it rarely allows more than a few minutes to elapse 
without going through its short and sweet song. This, though 
very agreeable, possesses no great variety, and is composed of 
about twenty or thirty notes, the latter ones of which are repeated 
rapidly, and form a natural cadence. For many years this plea- 
sant little melody, or the simpler song of the Chiff-chaff, has been 
the first sound I have heard to announce the arrival of the summer 
birds of passage; perhaps it is on this account that it is with 
me, at all seasons, a favourite rural sound. 
Ornithologists seem well agreed that the Willow-warbler’s 
food consists entirely of insects. This may be so, but I am much 
mistaken if a brood of this species annually hatched in a bank 
of furze adjoining my garden, do not, in conjunction with Black- 
caps and Whitethroats, pay daily visits to a certain row of red rasp- 
berries in my garden. It may be that they come only in quest 
of aphides, but I have certainly seen them in dangerous proxi- 
mity to clusters of the ripest fruit, which, when they were scared 
away, bore evident marks of having been pecked by birds. The 
nest of the Hay-bird resembles that of the Wood-warbler, but 
it is lined with feathers. The eggs are usually from five to seven, 
and of the same size and shape, but the spots are rust-coloured and 
limited in number. 
THE WOOD-WREN 
PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILATRIX 
Upper plumage bright yellowish green ; a broad streak of sulphur-yellow over 
the eye; sides of the head, throat, insertion of the wings and legs bright 
yellow ; rest of the under plumage pure white; second primary equal 
to the fourth, third and fourth with the outer web sloped off at the 
extremity ; legs pale brown. Length five inches and a half; breadth 
eight and three quarters. Eggs white, speckled so thickly with purplish 
brown as almost to conceal the ground. 
THE Wood-warbler, Willow-warbler, and ‘Chiff-chaff resemble 
each other so closely in size, colour, and habits, that except by 
