THE WILLOW WARBLER 



PHTLLOSCOPUS TROCHILUS 



LOCAL names in surrounding districts : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed summer visitor, found almost everywhere. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Willow Warbler is one of the commonest 

 of the smaller summer migrants to be found through- 

 out the Metropolitan area in most suitable places in the 

 wooded and rural suburbs. I have records from many of 

 the urban parks, having seen this species in St. James's 

 Park, Battersea Park, Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Victoria 

 Park, on Clapham Common, and in some of the larger 

 cemeteries, although I cannot say that it nests in any of 

 them. Beyond these limits, however, we reach districts 

 where the Willow Warbler habitually spends the whole 

 summer. It would be impossible to mention all of them 

 here, but I may instance such localities as Dulwich, 

 Putney, Streatham, Tooting, Wimbledon, Richmond, 

 Kew, Osterley, Acton, Baling, Hanwell, Willesden, 

 Harlesden, Wembley, Harrow, Highgate, Hampstead, 

 Hendon, Enfield, Waltham, Epping, Wanstead, Ilford, 

 the Grays, Croydon, Norwood, Sydenham, Mitcham, 

 Ewell, Kingston, and Merton. As our radius widens 

 into the country the Willow Warbler becomes even yet 

 more abundant ; whilst in spring and autumn it is by no 

 means an uncommon visitor to gardens and private grounds 

 within a few miles of the City. 



This pretty bird, one of the smallest of our summer 

 migrants, reaches the London suburbs early in April, and 

 quits them again at the end of September or early in 

 October. Alert and restless, it may be watched hopping 

 from twig to twig, ever and anon bursting into a delight- 

 ful ' little song a series of sweet and plaintive notes in a 



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