51 



SYLVIADJ3. WARBLERS. 



The Warblers are small in size, delicate in form, and pos- 

 sessed of considerable vocal powers. Excepting the Hum- 

 ming-birds, some of the smallest birds in existence are to be 

 found in this family ; the little Gold-crest, the smallest of 

 European birds, is an example. Feeding upon insects, 

 these birds keep down those minute species which lurk 

 within the buds, foliage, or flowers of plants, and which 

 escape the notice of the larger insectivorous birds, or of 

 those which hunt upon the wing. The Warblers are many 

 of them migratory, appearing in the spring, when with the 

 renewal of vegetation the insect world is called into life and 

 activity, and retiring in the autumn, when their services are 

 no longer required, and when their food diminishes or fails. 



THE WHEAT-EAR. Saxicola cenanthe. The Wheat-ear 

 is universally distributed over Britain, in suitable localities, 

 and during the season of its residence with us. It breeds 

 in holes, in the burrows of rabbits, under and among rocks 

 and stones, in old walls, and in quarries. The nest is made 

 of fine dry grasses, wool, moss, hair, and feathers, and the 

 eggs, five or six in number, are of a pale greyish-blue 

 colour, and without markings. (PI. VII. fig. 44.) 



