THE DAETFOED WAKBLEK. 343 



farther from the ground than mice. Nor are they very 

 unlike mice in colour. The whole upper part of the body is 

 dark reddish-brown, with dull grey on the cheeks, and a 

 trace of the same on the sides of the neck ; the throat and 

 breast are brownish-red, passing into deeper on the under 

 part, but with a line of white on the middle of the belly ; the 

 quills and tail-feathers are dusky, relieved with rusty brown 

 on the margins of the webs, except the tips of the exterior 

 and second feathers of the tail, and part of the outer webs of 

 the former, which are white ; the bill is pale yellow at the 

 base, and black at the tip ; the irides and naked spaces 

 round the eyes reddish-yellow ; and the feet dull yellow. 

 The colour of the female is a little duller ; and the young 

 have the throat and breast streaked with white, which 

 gradually wears off as they advance to maturity. 



The length is about five inches and a half, or an inch more 

 than that of the common wren ; but the tail, which is straight 

 and wedge-shaped, takes up fully half the length, so that the 

 body is not longer than that of the wren, and it is more 

 slender \ the extent of the wings is also less, and the whole 

 bird lighter, being only two drachms and a half. There is 

 a faint trace of resemblance to the wren in the shape of the 

 body, but none in the head, neck, and tail. The head is 

 rounder ; both that and the neck are more darkly feathered, 

 the bill is less produced and less pointed, and the expression 

 is not so lively as that of the wren. The form of the head 

 and tail, as well as the expression of the bird, are, however, 

 less like those of the true warblers. 



The nest is not placed immediately on the ground, but in 

 the very thickest part of the bush, which, in furze bushes, is 

 higher or lower according to age and other circumstances. 

 The materials of the nest are chiefly vegetable : the withered 

 spines of the furze, and other small vegetable bodies, some- 

 times united with a little wool, and lined with the withered 



