78 BRITISH BIRDS 



song is heard only in the early morning, and it ceases at the end of 

 August, during the moult, but is renewed a little later, and is then 

 continued until the bird's departure at the end of September. 



Wood- Wren. 



Phylloscopus sibilatrix. 



Upper plumage olive-green tinged with sulphur-yellow ; a broad 

 streak of sulphur-yellow over the eye ; sides of head, throat, and 

 insertion of the wings and throat bright yellow; rest of under 

 plumage pure white. Length, nearly six inches. 



This warbler arrives in England at the end of April, being later 

 by many days than its two nearest relations, the chiffchaff and 

 willow- wren. As its name implies, it is a bird of the woods, with a 

 preference for such as are composed wholly or in part of oak and 

 beech trees. It is not easily discerned, on account of its restless 

 disposition ; also because it chiefly frequents the uppermost parts 

 of the trees it inhabits. Its instinct appears to be to live and hunt 

 for the small insects it preys on among the green leaves at the 

 greatest possible height from the earth ; this may account for its 

 love of the beech, which is the tallest of our forest trees. But if 

 difficult to see as it flits lightly from place to place among the higher 

 foliage, it is easy to hear, and its frequently uttered song sounds very 

 loud in the woodland silence, and is strangely unlike that of any 

 other songster. It may be said to possess two distinct songs : of 

 these, the most frequently uttered and unmistakable begins with 

 notes clear, sweet, and distinct, but following more and more 

 rapidly until they run together in a resonant trill, and finally end 

 in a long, tremulous note, somewhat thin and reedy in sound. At 

 longer intervals it utters its other song, or call, a loud, clear note, 

 slightly modulated, and somewhat plaintive, repeated without varia- 

 tion three or four times. 



The wood-wren, although so great a lover of the tall tree-tops, 

 breeds on the ground, like the two species described before it, and, 

 like them, builds an oval-shaped domed nest. It is placed among 

 the herbage, and is composed of moss, dry leaves, and grasses, lined 

 with fine grass and horsehair. Feathers are never used in the 

 nest-lining, and in this the wood- wren differs from the two preceding 



