WOOD WARBLER 



WOOD WREN GREEN WREN LARGER WILLOW WREN- 

 YELLOW WILLOW WREN. 



PLATE CXXVI. 



Phylloscopus sibilatrix, .... BECHSTEIN. 

 Sylvia sylvicola, . . . YARRELL. 



Sylvia sibilatrix, . . SELBY. 



THE nest of this species, which is domed or half domed, 

 and of an oval shape, is almost always placed on the 

 ground, among herbage in woods, the entrance being 

 through a small hole in the side. It is made of grasses, 

 leaves, and moss, cleverly but not -thickly interwoven, lined 

 with horse-hair, but not with feathers. It is well concealed, 

 and is usually to be found on the side of some sloping 

 wooded banks. Mr. Sweet says that he has often found the 

 nest on the stump of a tree. 



The eggs, six, or more commonly seven in number, are 

 of a white ground colour, thickly spotted and speckled all 

 over with dark purplish brown and violet grey, forming a 

 mass at the larger end. Some are much less deeply marked 

 than others. 



Like the eggs of all the family, says Booth, they lose 

 their beauty soon after incubation commences. Those seen 

 in the cabinet of the collector bear but a faint resemblance 



to the appearance they presented when fresh laid. 



96 



