130 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



51. WOOD-WREN. 



Phylloscopus sibilatrix. 



"With us at Lilford, this species is by no means 

 abundant, and I could never make certain of finding 

 its nest in my school-days, or rather holidays, in our 

 neighbourhood, though I did stumble upon one casu- 

 ally now and then. So far as my experience goes of 

 the Wood- Wren, or Wood-Warbler (as this bird is, I 

 think, more generally called), it is fond of woods of 

 high trees, especially of beech, beneath which there is 

 little or no undergrowth with the exception of occa- 

 sional tufts of coarse grass in the scattered spots not 

 actually overshadowed by the spreading branches of 

 the trees. In these and similar localities we occa- 

 sionally hear, about the beginning of May, a very 

 peculiar note, which is described by W r hite, of Sel- 

 borne, as " a sibilous grasshopper-like noise:" sibilous 

 it certainly is, but I can perceive no resemblance 

 in it to the cry of the grasshopper. A good descrip- 

 tion will be found in the fourth edition of Yarrell ; 

 but even this fails to convey exactly the sound pro- 

 duced, though I certainly am unable to improve upon 

 it, and can only say that to my ear it has a certain 

 resemblance to the sound of the wings of Wild Ducks 

 when flying overhead, though, as stated by Yarrell; 

 it begins slowly, and is more musical than any sound 

 produced by mere muscular action can well be. This 

 song is accompanied by a quivering of the wings, 

 which are drooped during the performance. 



The Wood- Wren is everywhere a very local bird ; 

 I never met with it anywhere in great abundance, 

 but heard it more frequently during a few days' 

 rambles in the New Forest, in the neighbourhood of 



