132 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



beginning slow, but gradually becoming quicker and 

 quicker, until it dies away in a kind of thrill;" and 

 Yarrell describes it as resembling " the word twee sounded 

 very long, and repeated several times in succession, at 

 first but slowly, afterwards much quicker, and when 

 about to conclude is accompanied by a peculiar tremulous 

 motion of the wings, which are lowered by the side." 



SYLVIA TEOCHILUS (Linnaeus). 

 WILLOW-WAEBLEE. 



The great increase in planting of late years will 

 account for the large number of our summer warblers 

 that now visit us, whilst the strict preservation of 

 game in most parts of the county affords them at 

 the same time protection during the breeding season. 

 Amongst the first of that merry group (and later in 

 the season by far the most numerous,) to enliven our 

 shrubberies and plantations with its joyous notes, is 

 the willow-warbler, arriving, except in very backward 

 seasons, towards the end of March, and leaving us again 

 in September. The song of this elegant little bird on a 

 bright sunny morning in the early spring, when the trees 

 are putting forth their freshest green and all is life 

 and animation amongst the feathered throng, is one of 

 the most delightful and cheering sounds of that tuneful 

 season. If we walk through any large plantation on 

 their first arrival, the whole place seems alive with their 

 merry notes, and as we trace the sound into the topmost 

 branches, nearly every other tree seems to have a 

 separate vocalist, whose song, commencing in a high 

 key, runs down the scale with the most charming modu- 

 lations. I have also noticed, that, although always 

 plentiful, they occasionally appear in unusual numbers, 



