WOOD WARBLER. 89 



the Blackcap again in the vicinity ; but my search for 

 the Wood Warbler was in vain. In 1885 I heard it 

 once at the Glen of the Downs, County Wicklow. In 

 1886 I heard it again at Powerscourt, near the waterfall. 

 Visiting Mr. Anton at the head keeper's lodge, he 

 asked me to come out, and said that perhaps we might 

 observe something worth observing. Quite close to his 

 house I heard the Wood Warbler sing, and said to him, 

 " I fear that I must ask you to shoot that bird for me." 

 He brought out his gun, and in a moment brought 

 down the lovely Warbler. It fell almost at his feet; as 

 he looked at its delicate green back and yellow breast, 

 he said, " I did not think that there was such a bird in 

 the country." I hurried off at once with my prize to my 

 dear friend, Mr. A. G. More, who presented it to the 

 Dublin Museum. 



As I left the demesne I heard another Wood Warbler 

 sing. Long may he live and sing unmolested! I shall 

 slay no more. 



It is not very easy sometimes to distinguish between 

 the three Willow Wrens, save by the song, which differs 

 widely in all three. It may be stated, however, that the 

 Wood Warbler is the largest and the greenest of the 

 three; that he has a better defined superciliary streak 

 than the Willow Warbler ; that he is much whiter on the 

 breast and belly ; and that when he first arrives, he is in 

 his loveliest plumage of yellow and green. The Chiff- 

 chaff is a smaller and thinner bird ; his legs, too, are 

 dark brown, whilst those of the Willow Warbler and 

 Willow Wren are a brownish flesh-colour. Mr. Harting, 

 in his valuable monograph on our Summer Migrants, 

 states that, on examining a large series of Willow 



