Warblers. 39 



any precise explanation of the species meant to 

 be included in it. Nor is it in itself a very exact 

 word ; some of the birds which are habitually 

 called warblers do not warble in the proper sense 

 of the word, 1 and many others who really warble, 

 such as the common Hedge-sparrow, have no 

 near relationship to the class I am speaking of. 

 But as it is a term in use, and a word that pleases, 

 I will retain it in this chapter, with an explanation 

 which may at the same time help some beginner 

 in dealing with a difficult group of birds. 



If the reader of this book who really cares to 

 understand the differences of the bird-life which 

 abounds around us, will buy for a shilling Mr. 

 Dresser's most useful List of E^lropean Birds? 

 he will find, under the great family of the Tur- 

 didae, three sub-families following each other on 

 pages 7, 8, and 9, respectively called Sylvianae, 



1 What this sense is may be guessed from Milton, Paradise 

 Lost, Bk. v. 195 



' Fountains, and ye that warble as ye flow 



Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.' 



The word seems to express a kind of singing which is soft, 

 continuous, and 'legato.' 



2 Published by its author at 6 Tenterden Street, Hanover 

 Square. 



