FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 25 



THE BOHEMIAN CHATTERER. See Waxwing. 



THE CHIFF-CHAFF. 



This is the smallest of the summer birds that enliven 

 our woods and gardens by their welcome presence; it 

 is also the first to arrive, having been met with in February, 

 but more generally in March, and departs in October. 

 It is to be feared, however, that these very early visitors 

 often come to an untimely end, not from the cold, but 

 from inability to find any food. 



It measures about 4 inches in length, nearly half of 

 which belongs to the tail. The upper surface of the body 

 is yellowish-green with a brown tinge, and the under 

 parts are yellowish-white gradually turning to white 

 towards the vent. 



The Chiff-chaff is an extremely active little creature, 

 and is always on the move; but it is astonishing how a 

 frail creature, that a puff of wind blows out of its course, 

 can traverse vast tracts of sea, as it does, and one wonders 

 how the feat is accomplished. 



The nest -is oval in shape, with a small hole near the 

 top; it is placed on the ground under cover of some 

 small clump of brushwood, or even a tuft of fern or long 

 grass, and is built outwardly of leaves and stalks of grass, 

 the interior being lined with the finer portions of the 

 same and a little hair. The eggs are six or seven in 

 number, and are white, marked with red spots on the 

 larger end. 



The Chiff-chaff can be readily reared from the nest on 

 ants' eggs and bread and milk, and will live for seven or 

 eight years in the house. Being so small it requires a 

 closely wired cage or aviary, and as it is of an extremely 

 inquisitive nature, it often effects its escape from confine- 

 ment, availing itself of the tiniest opening through which 

 it can manage to squeeze itself. In autumn it visits 

 gardens, but is more usually found in woods and copses. 



The song of this species is a pretty little warbling, not 

 sustained, but rather of an intermittent character; the bird is, 



