Popular 23tctianarg) of ftminatett Mature. 743 



vinous colour : a band of waved or indented 

 narrow ash brown and white lines separates 

 the breast and neck ; the back and scapulars 

 are marked with similar feathers, as are also 

 the sides of the body under the wings : the 

 belly, to the vent, is white : the great wing- 



I coverts are brown, edged with white and 

 tipped with black, which forms an upper 

 border to the changeable green beauty-spot 



i of the wings, which is also bordered on the 

 under side by another stripe formed by the 



WIDGEON. ( 



deep velvet black tips of the secondary quills : 

 the exterior webs of the adjoining quills are 

 white, and those next the back are of a deep 

 brown, edged with yellowish white : the vent 

 and upper tail-coverts are black. The tail 

 is of a brownish ash colour, edged with yel- 

 lowish white ; the two middle feathers being 

 sharp-pointed, darker and longer than the 

 rest. The legs and toes are of a dull lead 

 colour, faintly tinged with green ; the middle 

 of the webs and nails black. The female is 

 of a sober brown ; the fore part of the neck 

 and breast paler ; scapulars dark brown, 

 edges paler ; wings and belly as in the male. 

 The young of both sexes are gray, and con- 

 tinue so till February, when the plumage 

 of the male begins gradually to assume its 

 rich colourings ; but after July the feathers 

 become dark and gray, so that he is hardly 

 to be distinguished from his mate. 



WIDOW-BIRD. [See WHIDAH-FINCH.] 



WILLOW WREN. (Sylvia trochilus.*) 

 For a most pleasing description of this " fairy 

 bird," we turn to Mr. VV. C. Hewitson's 

 elegant ' Illustrations,' &c. : and, with his 

 consent, we copy the greater part of it. 

 " Much as I love all the dear birds of sum- 

 mer," says this gentleman, " there is not one 

 the return of which I have yearly witnessed 

 with so much pleasure as that of the Willow 

 Wren ; and however more highly the rich 

 melody of some of the other warblers may 

 be prized, there is a simplicity and a sweet 

 cadence about the note of this species, which 

 never fails to excite within me feelings of 

 pleasure, which none but the lover of nature 

 can either appreciate or understand, but 

 which are to him amongst the chief enjoy- 

 ments of his life. The Willow Wren is one 

 of the most abundant of the warblers, and 

 almost every wood and copse is enlivened 

 by its beautiful form and graceful motions. 

 It is, too, an inhabitant of more northern 

 countries ; and I shall not readily forget the 

 delight I experienced on hearing its soft 

 sweet note, whilst seated within the Arctic 



Circle, upon one of the bleak isles of Nor- 



V ^The Willow Wren builds its nest upon 

 he ground, sometimes in the midst of woods, 

 when not thick, but more commonly near 

 heir margin,or in open places, or by the side 

 of those grassy drives which are cut through 

 them. It may be found in most of those 

 grassy banks where brushwood occurs. In 

 ihape the nest resembles that of the common 

 wren, being arched over, and entered from 

 the side ; it is, however, much more fragile, 

 and not easily moved entire ; it is composed 

 of dry grass and moss, with dead leaves, 

 warmly lined with feathers. . . . Mr. Neville 

 Wood, in his British Song Birds, quotes a 

 letter from Dr. Liverpool, describing the 

 readiness with which the Willow Wren be- 

 comes sociable. To this I can add a most 

 interesting instance. To ascertain beyond 

 doubt the identity of the two varieties of the 



Ored, I had captured, on their nests, 

 f the birds. Amongst these was one 

 which I had carried home and confined 

 during the night in a large box, and such 

 was its tameness, that when I took it out 

 the following morning, and would have set 

 it at liberty, it seemed to have no wish to 

 leave my hand, and would hop about the 

 table at which I was sitting, picking up flies 

 which I caught for it. In the autumn, pre- 

 vious to their departure, the Willow Wrens 

 frequent our gardens and orchards, where 

 they may be seen busily picking insects from 

 the pea-straw, and other vegetables, the 

 oung ones easily distinguished by their 

 righter yellow colouring ; sometimes war- 

 bling a farewell song, but in a tone far differ- 

 ent to their joyous carol in the spring, and 

 so subdued that it is scarcely audible.' r 



We are also indebted to the kindness 

 of Mr. A. Hepburn, of Whittingham, for the 

 following interesting notes on the WJL- 

 LOW WREN. This plainly coloured but 

 elegantly shaped species is a summer visi- 

 tant in Britain, arriving in April and de- 

 parting in September, and is abundantly dis- 

 tributed over the whole wooded parts of the 

 country. The male announces his presence 

 by a simple song, composed of a few notes, on 

 a descending scale, but the tone is so silvery 

 that it seems to tell of all the sweet influences 

 of spring, the April shower and sunshine, the 

 bursting bud and the opening flower ; and 

 what eye for the beautiful can fail to mark 

 the elegance of his form as he nimbly glides 

 amongst the young leaves, springs into the 

 air after an insect, or flits from tree to tree ? 

 By and by, when mated, a snug arched nest 

 is built on the ground, in a tuft of grass or 

 amongst other rank vegetation, and six or 

 seven little white eggs spotted with red are 

 deposited : the young are fed on a variety 

 of caterpillars and insects, by the destruction 

 of which, great benefit is conferred on the 

 labours of the husbandman and gardener. 

 There are often two broods in the season. 

 WINDHOVER. [See KESTREL.] 

 WOLF. (Canis Lupus.) A ferocious 

 quadruped belonging to the Digitigrade Car- 

 nivora, in habits and physical development 

 closely related to the Dog. The Common 



