NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



THE CHIFFCHAFF. 



THIS tiny warbler mea- 

 sures only about four and 

 three-quarter inches in 

 Length, is dull olive- 

 green tinged with yellow 

 above and yellowish- 

 white below. Over the 

 eye it wears a pale yel- 

 lowish streak which grows 

 whiter as it recedes. 



The Chiffchaff is, with 

 the exception of the hardy Wheatear, the 

 first feathered wanderer to return to us 

 in the spring, and is eagerly looked, or 

 rather listened, for by naturalists be- 

 cause its welcome notes stand in their 

 calendar as January i does to the rest 

 of the world the beginning of a New 

 Year not of days, weeks, and months, 

 but of awakening life, activity, and joy. 

 It arrives in March and departs again 

 in October, some individuals having the 

 hardihood to stay even through the 



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