Anglesey 



suffused , with a delicate red, which lends a soft 

 richness to her plumage. 



While working on the redstart, we continually 

 heard the note of the wood-wren, and saw these 

 birds collecting the small green caterpillars from the 

 branch ends. Of all bird-calls I think there is none 

 more intimately expressive than that of the wood- 

 wren. Its " Tui-tui " is easily reproducible by the 

 hearer as a subdued whistle ; but as uttered by the 

 bird, it leaves the impression of a spoken word of 

 endearment rather than a musical note, the lingering 

 tu having a coaxing intonation, and the final z, 

 higher in tone and shorter in duration, suggesting a 

 cheerful origin and a cheering intention. Hearing 

 the two birds call and answer by turns, we soon 

 traced them by the sounds. Having found them, 

 we stood still to watch ; for the wood-wren that 

 wandering voice in the high trees in the later months 

 nests on the ground, and an unwitting step might 

 crush all their hopes. As soon as the female bird 

 saw us near the nest, her note became an inex- 

 pressibly sad little cry. " Dor ! dor ! " " Dolour," 

 indeed, as the all but spoken word means in a 

 tongue to which one of us had become accustomed 

 in wanderings in vaster woods than this. "Dor/ 

 dor ! " she continued to cry, in spite of the cheering 

 " tui " of her answering mate, and perched restlessly 

 now on one branch, now on another, to regard us 

 wistfully from that little white-browed eye, but all 

 the time gravitating toward one spot, notwithstanding 



23? 



