144 Silviada. 



loves to creep about the bottoms of hedges and among shrubs, and 

 if there is a pile of old wood lying about the yard, there you may 

 invariably see its dusky figure, as it seeks a scanty subsistence, 

 not disdaining to search for food at the bottom of drains and 

 gutters, for pride has no part in its composition, not one of all the 

 race being so modest and humble as this. Its song, though not 

 loud nor continuous, is sweet, but chiefly prized for the season 

 at which it may be heard ; it sings, indeed, all the year through, 

 but in winter, amid piercing winds and frost and snow, it is refresh- 

 ing to hear the warbling of this little bird, as it sits perched 

 on some shrub or bush ; while, as the spring advances and brings 

 in troops of other and louder warblers, nobody notices the poor 

 Hedge Accentor amidst the flood of music which then abounds. 

 There is one exception here, however, for at this season the 

 cuckoo singles out the Hedge Warbler and shows its appreciation 

 of its domestic qualities by the doubtful compliment of selecting 

 its nest oftener perhaps than that of any other bird wherein 

 to deposit her egg. 



['Alpine Accentor' (Accentor alpinus). I have no right, and 

 I have no intention, of including among the warblers of Wilt- 

 shire this rare visitant to our island, for I have no instance 

 before me of its appearance in this county ; still, from the 

 facts that one of the three instances of its occurrence given 

 by Yarrell was in the adjoining county of Somerset, from 

 the garden of the Deanery at Wells ; that the specimen in Mr. 

 Marsh's collection was said to have been killed near Bath ; and 

 that the opinion of that keen and accurate observer coincides 

 with my own, that these birds are probably much more common 

 than is generally supposed, their shy retiring habits and sombre 

 plumage never making them conspicuous from these premises I 

 venture to conclude that the 'Alpine Accentor' probably visits us 

 occasionally, and I therefore mention it in passing. In colour it 

 is reddish-brown, but the chief distinguishing features which 

 mark it at once from its congener, the common 'Hedge Ac- 

 centor,' are its greater size and the dull-white throat, thickly 

 spotted with black. It is not uncommon on the Continent, and 



