WARBLERS, GOLD-CRESTS, TAILOR-BIRDS, STONE-CHATS. 443 



winter. As is the case with many other migrating Birds, the 

 males precede the females by several days. The distribution of 

 the Nightingale in Britain is very limited ; it is absent from 

 Devonshire, whose warm humid climate would seem peculiarly 

 favourable to it ; and it has been observed especially to frequent 

 those districts in which the cowslip abounds, a flower which is 

 seldom or never met with in the county of Devon. 



400. This extensive family is sub-divided into numerous sub- 

 ordinate groups, of which little more than an enumeration can be 

 here given. Thus we have first the proper Warblers, including 

 the Nightingale, Black-cap, Wood-wren, Kinglet, &c. ; which 

 are birds of small size and delicate conformation, feeding on juicy 

 fruits as well as on insects and larvre ; and seeking their food 

 chiefly among trees and bushes, seldom betaking themselves to 

 the ground. They form an elaborate nest ; lay from five to 

 eight eggs at a time ; and in some instances rear two broods in 

 each season. The Kinglet, or Golden-crested Wren, is the smallest 

 of our native birds ; its length from 

 the tip of the beak to the end of the 

 tail being only 3f inches ; it derives 

 its name from the bright lemon-yellow 

 feathers on its crown, on either side 

 of which is a band of black. It is a 

 very lively little bird, chiefly inha- 

 biting woods and plantations of pine, 

 fir or larch. Nearly allied to the War- Fro - 243 nBAO r GOLD- 



, , ii m 'i 7 T i crunvvKD KINGLET. 



biers are the 1 ailor-birds, whose curious 



nest has been elsewhere described (ANIM. PHYSIOL., 705). The 

 Wheatears and Slonechatsh&ve their bills somewhat depressed (or 

 horizontally flattened) at the base, and the comers of the mouth 

 armed with a few bristles ; this conformation points them out as 

 insect-eaters. Their wings are lengthened and pointed ; and 

 their tarsi are long, enabling them to leap along the ground in 

 search of their food. They inhabit barren places in various 

 parts of the Old World ; and nestle in crevices of rocks, among 

 stones, or in holes in the ground. The Accentors, or T)unnocks (of 



