S Y L V I A. 



759 



&c., while over-head the trilling vivacity of the wren, 

 mingled with the warbling mimicry of the cat-bird, 

 and the distant softened sounds of other songsters, 

 form a soul-soothing and almost heavenly music, 

 breathing peace, innocence, and rural repose. The. 

 European who judges of the song of this species by 

 that of his own wren will do injustice to the former, 

 as in strength of tone and execution it is far superior, 

 as well as the bird is in size, figure, and elegance of 

 markings, to the European one. Its manners are also 

 different ; its sociability greater. It is no under- 

 ground inhabitant ; its nest is differently constructed, 

 the number of its eggs fewer ; it is also migratory, 

 and has the tail and bill much longer. Its food is 

 insects and caterpillars ; and, while supplying the 

 wants of its young, it destroys, on a moderate calcu- 

 lation, many hundreds a day, and greatly circumscribes 

 the ravages of these vermin, it is a bold and insolei.t 

 bird against those of the titmouse or woodpecker 

 kind that venture to build within its jurisdiction, at- 

 tacking them without hesitation, though twice its size, 

 and srenerajly forcing them to decamp. Even the 

 blue-bird, who claims an equal and a sort of hereditary 

 right to the box in the garden, when attacked by this 

 little impertinent, soon relinquishes the contest, the 

 mild placidness of his disposition not being a match 

 for the fiery impetuosity of his little antagonist. 

 With those of his own species who settle and build 

 near him, he has frequent squabbles ; and when the 

 respective females are sitting, each strains his whole 

 powers of song to excel the other. When the young 

 are hatched, the hurry and press of business leave no 

 time for disputing, so true it is that idleness is (lie 

 mother of mischief. These birds are not confined 

 to the country ; they are to be heard on the tops of 

 houses in the most central parts of our cities, singing 

 with great energy. Scarce a house or cottage in the 

 country is without a pair of them, and sometimes 

 two." 



Many other birds than those which have been 

 enumerated in this sketch are called wrens, some of 

 which are warblers, some creepers, and some belong 

 to other genera. It is very natural, and perhaps un- 

 avoidable, to have this general application of the 

 name of a bird with which every one is familiar, to 

 other birds that are less known, but which resemble 

 the well-known one more or less in appearance, in 

 habits, or in both. From its familiarity in the winter, 

 as well as from the peculiarity of its appearance and 

 its manners, every body, whose ornithological know- 

 ledge extends beyond the house-sparrow and the 

 goose, knows the common wren, and thus it becomes 

 a very good key to the mere distinguishing of those 

 birds which are called after it. But when we come 

 to more accurate knowledge, which depends upon 

 the whole structure and habits of the birds, those 

 popular extensions of the same name are by no 

 means so convenient. 



There still remains a small section of sylvan birds, 

 belonging obviously to the family now under notice, 

 which some have classed with the wrens, and some 

 with the warblers properly so called (Curruca). But 

 they do not properly belong to either. In the English 

 descriptions they have pretty generally been denomi- 

 nated " willow wrens," or " willow warblers ;" and 

 therefore, without pretending that it is accurate, we 

 shall call them by the general name of 



8. SALICAIUA W r illovv birds. It must not be 

 supposed that these birds are never to be found but 



among willow?, any more than that willows are never 

 to be found without these birds ; for such rigidity of 

 expression as this could not be applied in any depart- 

 ment of natural history. All that is meant is that, in 

 the places which these birds visit in their migrations, 

 especially their summer one, they chiefly resort to 

 situations which are peculiarly favourable to the 

 growth of willows, whether there happen to be wil- 

 lows upon them or not. They have been called 

 marsh-warblers ; but that name is not altogether ac- 

 curate, as they do not resort to the marshes properly 

 so called, but to those places of the banks of pools 

 and streams which have a cover of very tall and close 

 vegetation in the summer, whether that vegetation 

 eon>ists of willows, reeds, sedjres, tall aquatic grasses, 

 or any other plants, provided those plants grow tall 

 enough for affording the requisite shelter, and there 

 is damp enough for affording the peculiar supply ot 

 food which these birds require. Their characters, as 

 a distinct genus or snbgenus, are not very strikingly 

 marked, but still there is u likeness among all the 

 known species, and a dissimilarity to all l|ie other 

 genera or subgenera of the family. They have the 

 body more slender and tapering at the shoulders than 

 the other warblers ; the upper part of the head is 

 flattened ; the wings are short and rounded ; and the 

 tail is long and \\odge-shaped at the end. Their 

 whole form and expression clearly indicate to any 

 one who has been in the habit of paying even a very 

 slight attention to the haunts and the forms of birds 

 as adapted to each other, that these are formed for 

 boring their way among very close obstacles getting 

 on the wing in very confined places, and rising anil 

 falling in their flight with much more facility than 

 they make forward progress on the wing. While 

 they are in England they roam very little, and are 

 rarely seen upon the wing, except hovering over the 

 osier holt, or the bed of reeds or sedges, or taking 

 very short flights from one part of it to another. As 

 the foreign birds, which should be included in this 

 subgenus, are not well defined, we shall confine this 

 notice to those which are met with in Britain. They 

 are birds of which it is not easy to study so as pro- 

 perly to understand their manners ; for their haunts 

 are neither easy nor pleasant even in our latitudes, 

 and in warm climates they are highly dangerous both 

 on account of the miasmata they give out and the 

 reptiles and other awkward inhabitants which they 

 contain. They are not all equally birds of the rank 

 aquatic vegetation ; and some of them have little or 

 no claim to be called warblers, for their voices are 

 any thing but musical. There are three known spe- 

 cies of them, all of which are regular summer visitants, 

 not rare by the streams and pools in the south of 

 England, diminishing in numbers as we proceed north- 

 ward, and there is no well-authenticated account of 

 their appearance in Scotland. 



The Sedge Warbler (S. phrdgniills). This is the 

 sedge wren of popular language, but it is unlike any 

 of the wrens properly so called, both in appearance 

 and in manners. It is about the same weight as the 

 common wren, but it is more than an inch longer, 

 and of a far more slender and delicate shape. It is 

 about five inches and a half in length, seven inches 

 in the stretch of the wings ; the head is narrow as 

 well as depressed on the crown, and the bill pointed, 

 of a dusky colour on the upper part, and white on. 

 the under; the colours are sober, according well with 

 the retiring habit of the bird ; the upper parts are 



