THE CHIFFCHAFF AND WILLOW WARBLER 163 



nape, and cheeks which characterize the coal 

 tit. The tits are not a particularly musical 

 family ; but the blackcap is one of our sweetest 

 songsters, and has been declared to be little 

 inferior in this respect to the nightingale, an 

 assertion which though a great admirer of the 

 vocal powers of the blackcap I cannot fully 

 endorse. The blackcap is a veritable garden 

 bird, and loves to perch on the standard rose- 

 trees, to which it does good service by ridding 

 them of caterpillars, and is a true friend to the 

 gardener, who, after the manner of his kind, 

 doubtless often shoots it, in the belief that he 

 is ridding the garden of 'one of them blessed 

 tits.' 



Of the two members of the Phylloscopinse, viz., 

 the chiffchaff and the willow warbler, the chiff- 

 chaff is the earliest of all our migratory birds in 

 making its appearance, and, I may also add, the 

 last to leave us in the autumn ; and for this reason, 

 if for no other, it is entitled to our affection and 

 sympathy. Long before the buds of the daffodils 

 have begun to swell and turn yellow, the brave 

 little creature returns to make its home with us, 

 and we may readily suppose that he would all too 

 gladly remain throughout the year if it were 

 possible indeed, instances are recorded of his 

 having done so. Mr. Aplin states that a chiffchaff 

 remained in this country, at Bodicote, in Oxon, 

 throughout the whole of the winter of 1881-82. 

 It was heard in December, and seen early in 



