WARBLERS. 125 



The legs, toes, and. claws, are greenish brown. Towards the end of 

 the season the yellow edgings of the feathers of the wings and tail 

 disappear, and the white extends higher up the breast. The young, 

 when completely fledged, resemble their parents, but are of a rather 

 paler colour ; they retain their first plumage until they migrate. 



THE WILLOW WARBLER, 



(Sylvia trochilus.) 



PLATE VIII. FIGURE II. 



THIS lively and elegant little Warbler very closely resembles the 

 species last described, but it is a little smaller, and of a darker and 

 more dingy colour; its wings are shorter, its legs of a yellower tint, 

 and the streak over the eye narrower and less bright. The differences 

 are, however, so slight that Macgillivray says "a person not having 

 before him specimens of both, would find some difficulty in determining 

 to which of the two species an individual of either belonged." Its 

 scientific name trochilus signifies a Wren, and it is very commonly 

 called the Willow Wren; it is also known as the Yellow Warbler, the 

 Hay Bird, and Huck-Muck. 



This bird is one of the earliest of our summer visitors, arriving on 

 the southern coast towards the end of March or the beginning of April. 

 From that time until the end of September it is plentiful in the south- 

 ern and eastern counties Kent, Sussex, Hants, Wilts, Dorset, Essex, 

 Suffolk, Norfolk, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland. 

 Although Montagu stated that it did not visit Devonshire or Cornwall 

 at the period at which he wrote, of late years it has been observed in 

 both these counties, and also in Wales. It is abundant in many parts 

 of Ireland, and in Scotland is plentiful about Tongue, Laing, and Loch 

 Naver, Loch Assynt, Leith Water, Currie, Slateford, Edinburgh, and 

 the Pentland Hills. Several specimens have been seen in the Orkney 

 Isles, but it does not appear to visit the Shetland Isles, or the Hebrides. 

 It is a regular summer resident in most parts of the continent of 

 Europe, from Russia and Norway to Italy. Mr. Strickland has noticed 

 it in Persia, and Mr. Gould has received specimens from the western 

 portions of India; it is also found in North America. 



This bird is much more abundant than the preceding species, and 



