48 SYLVIAD.E, 



abounding there. Dear, then, should be the memory of the 

 willow warbler to the gourmand, as it indubitably was the 

 origin of the tooth -pick. 



A favourite haunt of this species appears to be the pictur- 

 esque glen which extends across the further end of the Fifteen 

 Acres in the Phoenix Park, a sylvan scene, that would be va- 

 lued more highly were it treble the distance from the city, and 

 which gives shelter to numbers of the "feathered choir" to 

 utter their u wood-notes wild" in security. There the snowy 

 blossoms of the whitethorn contrast with the yellow bloom 

 of the " golden gorse," seeming to entice the sportive 

 bee to revel in their beauties, and woo each passing gale to 

 bear them forth and scatter them in " golden showers." The 

 lovely broom ! bright with the associations and recollections 

 of the warlike Plantagenets (the beautiful flower which the 

 father of science, Linnaeus, prostrated himself before, enrap- 

 tured at the sight when he beheld it for the first time). Be- 

 low, the u babbling brook" prattles merrily o'er the polished 

 stones, disturbed but when the timid deer come down to 

 drink. 



Of the old glen I am an ardent admirer, and say, with 

 Burns 



" Their groves o' sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon, 

 Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume ; 

 Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' Green Brechan, 

 Wi* the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom." 



Habitat Southern Europe. 



SPECIES 47 THE CHIFF-CHAFF. 



Sylvia Jdppolais. Selby. 



Bee fin veloce. Temm. 



Sallypicker. 



THE least in size of those migratory warblers which add so 

 many attractions to our summer, the diminutive chifF- chaff is 

 one of the most favourite in the estimation of the ornitholo- 



fist, and, with the exception of the sand martin, is generally 

 rst in its appearance upon our shores. 



At no time attracting our sympathies more than when 

 heard on some cheerless April morning, uttering its pleasant 

 call-notes, as if nature had sent, as her prophet to announce 

 the advent of summer, this little trouvere, who trolls his lay 

 as merrily as when, a short time previous, a sojourner in ano- 

 ther laud. 



