EARLY JUNE—OUR LAST EXCURSION 167 
our earliest visitors, arriving in March. Its 
habits in respect of its active and ceaseless 
movements resemble the warblers. Few 
know the willow wren’s song, and I must be 
included in the number. It is described as 
being very beautiful, one of the finest amongst 
those of our yearly visitors, and is prolonged 
right up to July from the time that the 
bird arrives, and even until it moults at the 
end of August, only to be renewed in Septem- 
ber before he leaves us. It is not loud, and 
is therefore, doubtless, not noticed amongst 
other birds of more pronounced capabilities. 
The next photo I took was of a chaffinch’s 
nest. There were several here, and indeed 
they are common in many places. It con- 
tained five eggs of a light blue-green ground 
colour, spotted and blotched with reddish- 
brown at the larger end : these markings vary 
much in position, size, and intensity. The 
long-tailed tit takes the first place amongst 
British birds in the architecture of its nest 
(see Part 1, p. 86); and’ the- chaffinch .has 
the prize for the prettiest. The green moss 
