BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 29 



CHIFFCHAFF. 



(Phylloscopus rufits.) 

 Order PASSERES ; Family SYLVIID.E (WARBLERS). 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about four 

 and three-quarter inches. Bill moderately long, 

 nearly straight, and dark brown in colour. Irides 

 brown. Over the eye is a pale yellowish-brown 

 streak, which becomes much lighter behind the 

 ear-coverts. Crown, neck, back, and upper tail- 

 coverts dull olive-green tinged with yellow. Wing- 

 quills dark greyish-brown edged with olive-green ; 

 tail - feathers somewhat similar. Chin, throat, 

 breast, and under-parts dull yellowish-white. Legs, 

 toes, and claws blackish-brown. 



The female is very similar in ail respects. 



Situation and Locality. On or near the ground, 

 in woods, on hedge-banks amongst tall, rank grass, 

 supported by brambles and slender bushes. The 

 bird breeds pretty generally throughout the south 

 and middle of England, but less frequently in the 

 northern counties and Scotland. It is numerous in 

 many parts of Wales and is met with in Ireland. 



Materials. Dead grass, withered leaves, and 

 moss, with an inner lining of hair and a liberal 

 quantity of feathers. The nest is oval, or nearly 

 so, domed, and has an entrance hole at the side 

 and near the top. 



Eggs. Five to seven, white, somewhat sparingly 

 spotted with dark purplish-brown. The spots vary 

 in size, intensity, and numbers, but, as a rule, they 

 are darker, fewer, and larger than those found upon 

 the eggs of the Willow Wren. Size about .6 by 

 .48 in. (See Plate III.) 



