372 INSECTIVOR.E. 



the lovers of those highly useful and ornamental productions 

 of the soil. 



THE WILLOW WARBLER (CuTTUCa trOcJlilus). 



The description of this bird has been partially anticipated 

 in the course of that of the former. It comes a little earlier 

 than the wood wren, and is either more abundant, or, from 

 the nature of its haunts, better or more generally seen. It 

 nestles on the ground, under dry banks, or at the roots of 

 close bushes. The nest is constructed with a dome covering 

 and lateral entrance. The materials used in the external 

 parts are dry vegetable fibres, and rarely, if ever, moss. The 

 fibres of course vary with what the locality supplies ; but 

 the culms of the wild grasses of the former year, together 

 with the slender wiry leaves which have faded in the winter 

 are the predominating ones, so that the nest is externally 

 like a little clot of hay, and hence the vernacular name of 

 "hay-bird." The inner lining is downy feathers. The eggs 

 do not exceed seven : they are white with rusty brown spots, 

 thinly dispersed, except at the larger end. 



The willow warbler feeds lower than the wood warbler, 

 though the character of its game is nearly the same. Hedges, 

 copses, bushes, willow beds, and other collections of deciduous 

 shrubs are its haunts ; and among these it captures larvae, 

 moths, and flies. It does not fly to a distance for discovery 

 so often as the former species; but it is very active in leaping 

 upward and downward, for which its shorter wings and its 

 more strongly fortified tail better adapt it. Its habits, in- 

 deed, resemble those of the wrens and creepers a little more 

 than the former species, as it is found running among the 

 branches, and partially on the stems. 



When the males of these birds first arrive, which in the 

 south of England is very early in April, they perch on the 



