BIRD-LIFE OF THE WOODS AND GROVES. 175 



orchards, and the like; woods are too close and 

 confined for them. The Wood Wren, however, is a 

 dweller amongst the trees of some of our Devonian 

 woods; local in distribution certainly, but fairly 

 numerous in the few favoured spots it selects for 

 its summer quarters. We have met with this 

 pretty Warbler about Newton Abbot, Ipplepen, 

 and in the vicinity of Berry Pomeroy. We have 

 heard its unmistakable note below Marldon, in a 

 wooded coombe that runs almost to the highway 

 between Paignton and Torquay. As most readers 

 may be aware, this species lives amongst the 

 branches of tall trees, and does not frequent 

 the bushes and thickets. The song of this bird 

 is a most characteristic one, a sibilant trill uttered 

 time after time in monotonous succession as the 

 tiny minstrel sits in the tree-tops quivering and 

 vibrating its wings and tail. The call-note a 

 double one, which may be expressed as dee-ur 

 dee-ur, oft repeated very closely resembles certain 

 cries of the Great Titmouse. The Chiffchaff and 

 the Willow Wren are also tenants of the woods 

 and plantations, the former especially; and shortly 

 after its arrival in spring the trees echo and re-echo 

 with its monotonous double cry all day long. 



