4S NOTES TO THE 



The chiff-chaff is also called the " chinky-chank ; " its only 

 song iss chiff-chaff. It is the earliest migratory bird that arrives, 

 and stays very late, even to the end of November. The male 

 bird is brighter in colour than the female. This little bird has 

 been seen by Mr. Bartlett at the Zoological Gardens as early as 

 March. 



NUT-HATCH, p. 50. The Nut-hatch makes a very amusing 

 pet if reared from the nest, and becomes perfectly tame ; he is 

 always on the move, climbing up the sides of the trees and 

 tapping for insects, &c. The nut-hatch takes possession of an 

 old hole made by the woodpecker, and stops up the hole with 

 mud, leaving an aperture just big enough to get in and out. 

 This curious doorway is scarcely perceptible to the eye, as the 

 mud corresponds with the colour of the tree ; he builds from 

 four to twelve feet high from the ground ; if he cannot find a 

 woodpecker's hole, he will take any other. 



The nut-hatch's foot is made for climbing, but he cannot hold 

 anything by the foot. When he cannot get beech-nuts, &c., he 

 will eat all kinds of insect food, he will also eat oleaginous seeds. 

 Mr. Davy thinks they will hide away beech-mast and nuts for 

 winter consumption. They are caught under beech-trees arid in 

 groves of old limes or chestnuts. They make their nests in the 

 old holes which the spotted woodpecker has dug out. All 

 woodpeckers make holes in the trees and then tunnel clown- 

 wards about a foot. They carry the chips away as they dig 

 them out. 



WILLOW-WRENS, p. 51. No doubt the three willow-wrens 

 mentioned are mistaken for the chiff-chaff, wood-wren, and 

 willow-wren, the wood- wren being very rare; the legs of the 

 willow-wren are flesh coloured ; the chiff-chaff is smaller, and 

 the legs are nearly black. 



GRASSHOPPER WARBLER, p. 52. The grasshopper warbler is a 

 very shy bird, something like the whitethroat ; makes its nest on 

 the ground ; comes late, about April, and goes away in September. 

 It is entirely an insect-feeder. The song is deceiving, and 

 resembles the croaking of the grasshopper or locust ; it shifts 

 about a great deal when singing. Most of the woods round 

 London produce two or three pairs in a season. They prefer 

 quiet woods, and sing on the lowest twigs of bushes. This bird 

 is hard to keep in a cage ; the longest time ever known is seven 

 weeks. It requires soft insect food, such as small hairless 

 caterpillars. None of the bird-catchers have ever seen it migrate ; 



