THE WILLOW WARBLER. 25 



but not so early as the Chiff-chaff, which is the 

 first of the genus to appear. 



Yarrell speaks of these birds as " having 

 acquired with us the general name of Willow 

 Warblers, or Willow Wrens, from their pre- 

 vailing green colour;" but Thompson, in his 

 " Birds of Ireland" (i. p. 192), says, "this name 

 was doubtless bestowed upon the bird originally 

 on account of its partiality to willows, which 

 I have frequently remarked, the twigs and 

 branches of the common osier (Salix viminalis) 

 abounding with aphides, being on such occasions 

 its chief favourite." There is yet another sug- 

 gestion i.e., that the name may have been 

 bestowed from the circumstance that these little 

 birds make their appearance just as the willow 

 is budding. 



It is marvellous how these tiny creatures can 

 sustain the protracted flights which are necessary 

 to transport them from their winter to their sum- 

 mer quarters ; and yet that they make these long 

 journeys is well ascertained. On the 23rd of 

 April a Willow Wren came on board a vessel 



