SYLVIA TROCHILUS. 321 



low sweet song is peculiarly pleasing — almost pathetic. It 

 resembles twee-twee uttered about a dozen times, beginning low 

 and plaintive, gradually falling and growing quicker at the 

 close. The general colour is greenish brown, the feathers 

 margined with yellow; wing coverts and quills pale yellow; 

 from the base of bill to over the eyes is a streak of primrose 

 yellow, but not so well marked as the last species ; cheeks and 

 throat also yellow ; belly, white ; under tail coverts, pale yellow ; 

 legs, yellowish brown or flesh colour ; iris, brown. From its 

 yellow facings it is also sometimes called the yellow wood-wren, 

 but it is less than the last — 5 inches long by 7f in extent of 

 wings. The female resembles the male. Like the other two, it 

 moults in September before leaving us in October. It is one of 

 the most abundant of our warblers. Mr Hewitson says : — " I 

 shall not forget the delight I felt on hearing its soft sweet note, 

 whilst seated within the Arctic Circle upon one of the bleak 

 isles of Norway." Before leaving us in autumn they frequent 

 our gardens, picking insects from pease, straw, and vegetables 

 (the young distinguished by their brighter yellow), sometimes 

 warbling a farewell song ; but different from their joyous carol 

 in spring, and so subdued as to be scarcely audible. White 

 says : — " The willow- wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in 

 a garden, destroying the pease, cherries, currants, &c, and are 

 so tame that a gun will not scare them." The next genus in 

 the sub-family Sylviana is 



Genus, Regulus, or Crested Kinglets. 



This genus is represented in Britain by the gold-crested wren, 

 the smallest of our British birds, although two species are found 

 in Europe, two in America, and a fifth in the North of Asia. 



