134 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



The eggs, numbering four or five, vary in 

 ground colour from pale greenish - blue to dull 

 greenish- white, and are blotched and blurred with 

 darker greyish - green and light brown. Some 

 specimens are marked with black or dark - brown 

 streaks and spots. The situation of the nest, its 

 characteristics of construction, and the noisy 

 behaviour of its owners serve to identify the eggs. 



WARBLER, WOOD. 



THIS little migrant breeds sparingly in nearly all 

 suitable parts of England, and I should say even 

 fairly plentifully in some parts of Wales, from the 

 number of birds I have heard and seen in some of 

 the more out-of-the-way woods of the Principality. 

 It also nidificates in Scotland, but is said to be 

 rare in Ireland. It is distinguished from its con- 

 gener the Willow Warbler by its greater length of 

 wing, a broader yellow band over the eye and ear 

 coverts, the purer green of its upper and lighter 

 tint of its under parts. 



The loud song-notes of the male, although 

 difficult to represent by the characters of the 

 alphabet, are easily distinguished when once they 

 have become familiar to the ear of the listener. 



The species is partial to woods with a plentiful 

 supply of tall trees. Whilst sitting in a little 

 well-timbered Westmoreland ghyll a few springs 

 ago, watching a pair of Blue Tits and a Spotted 

 Flycatcher feed their young, I saw a Wood Warbler 

 drop into some tall grass growing on a steep bank, 

 several times over, and when I went to the spot 

 found a nest full of feathered young ones. A little 



