THE WARBLERS 



83 



from the roadside fence to 

 seize a passing insect. With 

 the possible exception of a 

 wild cock Blackbird in win- 

 ter, no British bird can 

 throw itself more suddenly 

 over a hedge than the male 

 Whitethroat. 



The Lesser Whitethroat 

 is more a bird of the shrub- 

 beries, and builds its similar 

 nest at a greater altitude 

 than its more frequent rela- 

 tive ; its eggs are smaller 

 in proportion, while the ground colour of 

 them is nearly white instead of greenish 

 white, and the markings are more blotchy 

 and more nearly confined to a zone at 

 the larger end. The only difference in 

 plumage between the two species is that 

 the smaller bird has a dark patch between 

 the eye and the beak, and its back is 

 bluish grey, whilst that of the other is 

 reddish brown. 



The Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, and 

 Wood Warbler, arranged in ascending 

 scale of magnitude, are all three so 



notes soon betray not 

 only his arrival but 

 also his name. The 

 Willow Wren, or Wil- 

 low Warbler, is by 

 no means dependent 



similar in ap- 

 little yellowish- 

 that itispracti- 



pearance — 

 green birds— 

 cally impossible 

 to draw 

 any suf- 

 fi c i en t 

 distinc- 

 tion be- 

 t w e e n 

 them to 

 enable 

 the nov- 



WILLOW WKEN. 



ice to .identify them 

 apart in life. In song, 

 however, they differ 

 much. The Chiffchaff 

 is about our earliest 

 spring migrant, and 

 his two monotonous 



CHIFFCHAFF AND NEST. 



upon willows either for a living or a 

 lodging, it being the most generally dis- 

 tributed of the three species. Its " weep- 

 ing " song seems loud for so small a bird. 

 The Wood Wren, or Wood Warbler, is 

 the rarest of the three, and more con- 

 fined to a wooded country. Although 

 all three seek their food chiefly from 

 arboreal insects, 

 and frequent tall 

 trees in their search, 

 all build their dome 

 shaped nests either 

 on or very near the 

 ground. The Wood 

 Wren alone declines 

 the use of feathers 

 in the lining. The 

 eggs of each are 

 much alike, and a 

 practised eye alone 

 can differentiate 

 them apart from 

 the nest. 

 M. C. H. Bird. 



WILLOW WKEN'S NEST 



