THROUGH THE YEAR 235 



song of the willow warbler as it does in the red- 

 breast's. 



The chiff-chaff's song, which is not at all plaintive, 

 is just the constant repetition of "zip, zap; zip, 

 zap/' beaten out from the tree-top ; there are 

 some indefinable, baby-like notes that precede this 

 call, but they are uttered in a very low key. I 

 do not claim to have discovered them, but I believe 

 I was first to record them a few years ago. 



In boyhood the best thing about a leaf warbler 

 was its nest and eggs/and to this day I rejoice to find 

 the chiff-chaff's nest.* By a long way it is the 

 choicest nest of the three, because it is slightly off the 

 ground, and therefore more compact and finely 

 knit. The willow warbler and the wood warbler 

 build on the ground, weave their nests into the moss 

 or tangle of dead and living grasses and undergrowth. 

 I have only found two wood warblers' nests, and 

 neither was very neat. The willow warbler's nest 

 is a better bit of work, because it is lined with 

 feathers, but the chiff-chaff will sometimes make a 

 gem of a nest a foot above the ground, in brambles 

 or grassy undergrowth. I have seen once or twice 

 a chiff-chaff's nest that almost challenged a wren's 

 in its careful fine-finished workmanship. Only, 

 being domed, as are all three leaf warblers' nests, 

 it has not that small, round, firm-stitched entrance 



* At the beginning of July, 1912, on the railway bank 

 between Hook and Basingstoke, I found a beautiful 

 specimen slung in the brambles and undergrowth. The 

 white, red-freckled eggs shone on their bed of feathers, a 

 lovely sight. 



