LETTER XIX 1 



TO THE SAME 



SELBORNE, August I'jth, 1768. 



DEAR SIR, [I wrote to you about the 25th of July, & 

 hope my letter reached you as it was directed to S r R : 

 Mostyn as usual. In that letter I gave you an account that 



1 This is one of the most important letters in the book. It is the first clear 

 definition of the three migratory species of Willow-Wrens, or Willow Warblers 

 (as they are variously called), which annually visit Great Britain. Although the 

 three species are perfectly distinct, it requires to be a trained naturalist to estimate 

 their specific characters, and to recognise their notes. On the 2oth of May 1899, 1 

 first visited Gilbert White's country, in company with Mr. Freemantle and Mr. 

 Herbert Railton, and I undertook to show them the three species of Willow 

 Warblers. The Chiff-chaff was detected by his note among the ivy-covered trees 

 and bushes which adjoin the path leading to the " zigzag " ; the Willow Wren sang to 

 us from the bushy trees which fringe the Hanger, close to the Park which belongs 

 to the "Wakes " ; and without moving from the spot, the Wood Warbler's song 

 was heard from the beech-trees of the adjacent Hanger, then in the full spring 

 perfection of its new foliage. The latter was Gilbert White's " yellowish bird," 

 the largest of our three British Willow Warblers : it is distinguished by its white 

 breast and abdomen, and brown or flesh coloured legs, and is the Phylloscopus 

 sibilator of modern naturalists. The Willow Wren (P. trachilus} has also light- 

 coloured legs, is intermediate in size between the other two, and is altogether a 

 yellower bird, while the Chiff-chaff (P. minor) is the smallest, and has black legs. 

 The latter bird, one of the earliest of our spring migrants, has a more rounded 

 wing than the other two species. The second primary is intermediate in length 

 between the sixth and ninth. It migrates to the Mediterranean countries and reaches 

 Abyssinia and Somali Land. The Willow Warbler always has the second primary 

 intermediate in length between the fifth and sixth. It has a more extended winter 

 range than the Chiff-chaff or the Wood Warbler, and is found during our cold 

 season throughout Africa, reaching even to the Cape Colony. The winter home 

 of the Wood Warbler is in North-east Africa and West Africa, for it has been met 

 with on the Gold Coast during our winter months. The above-mentioned differ- 

 ences in the proportions of the primaries or flight-feathers are of great service 

 in distinguishing the three species at all seasons of the year, and particularly 

 in the autumn, when the yellow tint of the plumage assumed by old and young 



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