WOOD WREN. 47 
hillsides above Errwood Hall. Like the Chiffchaff, 
this species sings feebly after the autumn moult. 
WOOD WREN. 
PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILATRIX (Bechstein). 
The Wood Wren arrives later than most of our 
summer visitors, its shivering song being seldom heard 
before the last few days in April. It occurs locally 
throughout the county, being most abundant in woods 
where oaks and beeches predominate. 
Brockholes describes it as a common summer visitor 
to Wirral! In the unreclaimed parts of Delamere 
Forest the bird is very plentiful, outnumbering the 
Chiffchaff and Willow Wren, but is rare in the sur- 
rounding cultivated districts. Elsewhere in the Plain 
it is often absent from plantations and game-coverts 
of recent growth, but is abundant in parks, such as 
Dunham and Tatton, where there is much old timber. 
It is common in the Hill Country between the Dane 
and Goyt, and in the valley of the former stream 
above Bosley is heard more frequently than any other 
Warbler. 
The Wood Wren obtains most of its food by search- 
ing the twigs and smaller branches of the oaks and 
beeches which it frequents. Occasionally, however, a 
bird will drop to the ground, seize an insect, and mount 
aloft again in an instant; or dash out like a Flycatcher 
to take an insect on the wing. We have often observed 
one hover in order to pick off a small green caterpillar 
from the under side of a leaf. 
1 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 6. 
