124 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



and neck erect; his wings droop and quiver violently, and he seems 

 greatly excited. Sweet says, from this peculiar motion of the wings, 

 the little creature was known in the neighbourhood of Bristol, when 

 he was a boy, as the "slinking bird of the wood." The notes are sweet 

 and pleasing, although without much variety; they have a curious 

 hissing trill running through them, that has given this bird, with 

 some authors, the scientific name of sibilatrix. The song, which is 

 sometimes uttered on the wing, is continued through the greater part 

 of the summer, and can be heard at a considerable distance. While 

 the bird has a family to attend to, his only note is a simple and 

 rather mournful tweet. 



The nest of the Wood Warbler is oval, and domed over, with the 

 entrance in the side. It is placed on the ground amongst herbage or 

 bushes, but usually in some spot where the sunshine can penetrate and 

 dispel the damp and gloomy atmosphere which would otherwise sur- 

 round it. It is constructed of dry grass, leaves, and moss, and lined 

 with finer grass and hair, but never with feathers; the absence of the 

 latter enables it to be at once distinguished from the nest of either 

 the Willow Warbler or the Chiff Chaff, which it otherwise closely 

 resembles. The eggs are six, or sometimes seven in number, spotted 

 and speckled all over with dark purple, red, and grey, on a white 

 ground; the markings are so thick on some specimens that the ground 

 is almost hidden. 



This bird is of great service to man, and its visits should be 

 encouraged by the gardener and agriculturist, for while it destroys 

 immense numbers of insects and their larvae, it never touches fruit or 

 berries. It hunts among the leaves for caterpillars, and darts with a 

 rapid and undulating flight in pursuit of butterflies, and other denizens 

 of the air. 



The Wood Warbler is of very elegant form and handsome plumage. 

 The wings are long, and the tail slightly forked. The males and 

 females differ little either in size or colour; both are from five to five 

 and a quarter inches in length, and weigh nearly three drachms. The 

 irides are hazel; the boak blackish brown, but lighter in colour along 

 the edges of the mandibles. The general tint of the head and upper 

 parts of the body is yellowish green; a streak of sulphur yellow passes 

 from the base of the upper mandible over the eye; under it, before 

 and behind the eye, is a brown line. The chin, throat, and breast 

 are delicate sulphur yellow, fading into pure white on the under parts 

 of tho body. The wings are dusky brown, most of the feathers edged 

 with yellowish green; the tail greyish brown, tho outer edges of the 

 feathers yellow, except the side ones, which are edged with pale brown 



