The Zoologist— July, 1807. 815 



willow wrens for years, have frequently in the early spring looked 

 through the glass at the chiffchaff and willow wren perched on the 

 same low bush, have seen the difference in the colour of their legs, 

 have had the willow wren in captivity, and have got one stuffed on the 

 mantel-piece, and yet I felt confident this chiffchaff was a willow wren : 

 so much forjudging by sight without hearing. On the 27th the chiff- 

 chaff was in the castle wood catching flies from the top of a barbarous 

 black wooden fence, some six feet high, on the east of the path through 

 the wood, the tenter-hooks bothering its little legs sadly ; by which 

 said frightful fence the divorce judge has divorced the public from the 

 enjoyment of the better half of the castle wood, iu which for the last 

 thirty years I have passed many of the pleasantest hours of my life, 

 listening to the sweet songs of the beautiful birds as they sang their 

 Maker's praise on returning home after travelling thousands of 

 miles. 



April 3. Saw three tree creepers, one male beautifully marked; 

 watched one clear out a hole in the decayed branch of a tree. This 

 day I first noticed the dark little spiders running among the dead oak 

 leaves ; the wood ants were also out. I believe these spiders and the 

 red ants form the chief food of the nightingales on their arrival. 



April 10. Examined a beautiful marsh tit while suspended at the 

 end of a long thin spray of birch ; but for the black on the nape of his 

 neck and his hanging head downwards, he would readily be mistaken 

 for a blackcap. It is possible the blackcap said to be seen in winter 

 may be the marsh tit. 



April 17. I saw a swallow shoot up the hill, take a kw turns round 

 the summit, to make sure of his whereabouts, and then dart off towards 

 Eltham. He looked as thin as a wafer, and floated on the air like 

 gossamer. It was a dull misty day, the Norwood hills invisible. 

 Directly after I got a good view of the wryneck, clearly seeing its 

 front and back toes. - This morning, about ten, the gardener heard the 

 nightingale singing famously in the top of the wood. The full moon 

 appears favourable to migration. Saw several chiffchaffs. 



April 18. Saw two willow wrens catching flies from the rails round 

 the deodar in Greenwich Park, and then feeding on the ground under- 

 neath the branches. Saw their yellow legs, and soon saw them 

 singing. 



April 19 (Good Friday). Saw a willow wren singing in the trees on 

 the top of Shooter's Hill. A tree pipit flew up into the same tree, sat 

 some time examining the country, and then off for Essex. Saw three 



