WARBLERS, GOLD-CRESTS, TAILOR-BIRDS, STONE-CHATS. 44o 



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, See. ; which 

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

 fruits as well as on insects and larvae ; 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 



o oo 



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- FlG - * HAD OF GOLD- 



* CROWNED KINGLET. 



biers are the Tailor-birds, whose curious 



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

 Wheatears and Slonechats have their bills somewhat depressed (or 

 horizontally flattened) at the base, and the corners 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 Dunnocks (of 



