50 



THE WILLOW WEEN. 



is before us, is about five inches long ; the upper parts of 

 the plumage are light yellowish green, the throat and sides 

 of the breast yellow, the under parts white. 



Mr .Weir states that he once found a nest of Wood Wrens 

 which was built on the side of an old mossy ditch, in the 

 middle of a plantation, about 290 yards from the house. 

 They began it on Friday morning, the 2nd June, and 

 finished it on Saturday afternoon. The female laid six 

 eggs ; the first on Sunday, the 4th, the last on Friday, the 

 9th, and began to sit on Saturday, the 10th. The ground 

 colour of the eggs is white, with markings of reddish purple. 

 In shape the nest was very much like the Willow Wren's, 

 except that, instead of being lined with feathers, it was 

 built with fine grass, and a few long hairs. He continues 

 * These birds have a curious hissing and whistling note, 

 from which, no doubt, they got the Sibilatrix, the scientific 

 name by which the species is distinguished by Jennyns, 

 Temminck, and some others. White of Selborne was the 

 first to notice this as a British bird ; it was described 

 and figured by Lamb in the i Transactions of the Lin- 

 nsean Society.' The following is part of his account of its 

 habits : ' It inhabits woods, and comes with the rest of 

 the summer Warblers, and in manners is much the same, 

 running up and down trees in search of insects. I heard it 

 first early in May in White Knight's Park, near Eeading. 

 It was then hopping about on the upper branch of a very 

 high pine, and having a very singular and shrill note, it 

 attracted my attention, being very much like that of the 

 common Bunting ; but so astonishingly shrill that I heard 

 it at more than a hundred yards distant ; this it repeated 

 once in three or four minutes. I never heard these birds 

 before last spring, and nevertheless I have heard nine in 

 the course of a month.' But these, it should be observed, 

 were in different parts of the country. 



THE WILLOW WREN (Phyllopneuste trocliilus). This 

 bird is known among us by the various names of the Willow 

 Warbler, Willow or Ground Wren, Hay-bird, and Huck- 

 muck. Macgillivray calls it the Willow Wood Wren, and 

 places it in his genus Phyllopneuste with the Yellow Wood 



