THROUGH THE WOODS. 93 



ear at once and charm the listener, but before he 

 has time to realise its beauty it has drifted away 

 into harshness. Time after time is this repeated, 

 for the Wood Wren is a pertinacious singer ; and 

 should you be fortunate enough to see him you 

 will find that all his plumage seems to quiver with 

 excitement as he sings, and that he occasionally 

 warbles as he flits from one branch to another. 

 The Wood Wren loves the higher branches ; and 

 I have noticed that he will confine himself to one 

 particular tree for hours together, yet keeping so 

 close among the leaves as to defy detection. It is 

 by far the shyest of the three species, and usually 

 resents close observation by hurrying off to more 

 secluded haunts. The food of the Wood Wren 

 is insects and larvae, but in late summer both this 

 bird and its two congeners will eat fruit. The 

 nest is always placed among the vegetation on the 

 ground in the woods, and resembles that of its 

 congeners in form, but it is lined with hair alone, 

 feathers never being used. The half-dozen eggs 

 are larger than the ChiffchafPs, white in ground 

 colour, freckled and spotted with purplish brown 

 and gray. They are more thickly marked than 

 the eggs of the Chiffchaff. But one brood is 

 reared in the season, and the departure south is 

 made early in autumn in September. The large 

 size, beautiful yellowish green upper plumage, 

 pale eyestripe, and nearly white underparts, 

 characterise this species. 



The three species here enumerated are practi- 

 cally all the British Warblers (SYLVIIN^:) that 

 love a strictly woodland haunt ; and even of these 

 the Willow Wren especially may oft be met with 

 elsewhere. One other sweet singer, more nearly 



