The Warbler Family. 91 



wings are rounded, the fourth feather being the 

 longest, and the flight is jerky and rather weak. The 

 legs and claws are dull white, the beak black-brown. 

 The total length of an ordinary male is loin., of 

 which the tail is 5in. 



"The Shamah delights in dark holes and corners, 

 and when in the garden usually keeps low down 

 among the shrubs and thickets. It is exceedingly 

 fond of the lower and smaller boughs of rhododen- 

 dron bushes, and from the midst of these will warble 

 forth its sweet and gentle song by the hour, ascend- 

 ing and hiding among the leaves at roosting-time. 

 So low and gentle is this^song that it can be heard 

 only by those who are near, and by those who have 

 observant ears. Some people seldom hear the voice 

 of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. In the 

 house during the winter also the Shamah gives forth 

 its sweetest strains when entirely hidden from view 

 in some dark corner. What a sweet-tempered, 

 gentle, amiable, little darling ! So you may say if 

 you have but one. Alas ! our sweet-tempered angel 

 has but to hear a note from one of its kind when, 

 emerging from its obscurity and casting all its 

 amiability to the winds, bounding to the top of 

 the highest available post of observation, it pours 

 forth such a volley of abuse, in notes of defiance 

 so powerful and full, that it is difficult to believe 

 that it is the same bird, or sometimes, indeed, that 

 such notes can come from a bird at all. If the 

 intruder be " get-at-able/' a chase immediately follows, 

 and the stranger will probably be injured or de- 

 stroyed unless the birds be separated. For a time I 



