Common Wild Birds of the Scarborough District. 327 



migrants soon lireak up into little parties and joining Cole, Marsh and 

 Blue Titmice haunt the woods for insect food, constantly calling to each 

 other as they flit about. At this time they may sometimes be seen to leave 

 the upper branches of trees and flutter butterfly-like down to the ground, 

 apparently chasing small insects or to retrieve a fallen morsel of food. 

 Tame as these real woodland fairies become sometimes, one can rarely 

 get near enough or in the right position to see during their incessant 

 restlessness the very beautiful golden crest. The nest, composed mainly 

 of moss is lined with abundant feathers and some hair, decorated with 

 lichens and spiders' webs, always, in my experience, woven into and 

 suspended from a lateral branch of a spruce or silver fir, spiders' webs being 

 the sole support. It is placed from 5 to 16 feet above ground and often 

 contains as many as ten eggs. It would take about thrirty-three of these 

 to weigh one ounce. 



*The Chiff Chaff {PJiylloscopus rnfiis Bechstein). This is the first of 

 our Summer visitors, sometimes arriving as eai'ly as March 24th. Conse- 

 quently all bird lovers who know birds and do not merely read about them 

 in more or less inaccurate ' popular ' books look and listen for it as Lady 

 Day approaches and accord it as hearty a welcome as they do the Cuckoo 

 or Swallow. Fairly common in woods of fair size it remains with us 

 sometimes as late as September 20th, whilst there is positive evidence 

 that this or the next species — which very closely resembles it — sometimes 

 remains here through the winter. 



Its bright little song, which on June 21st, one may hear from 3 a.m. 

 till 8 p.m., becomes very faint and sad-sounding in September. Though 

 arriving so early I have not found eggs in the nest before May 19th. 



With one exception only all nests that I have found have been built 

 from I to 25 feet above ground, in herbage, furze or other bushes, the 

 exceptional case was a nest in a hawthorn g feet up. Dead grasses, dead 

 leaves and fern and sometimes strips of bark are used as building materials. 

 Usually five, sometimes as many as seven eggs are laid, their weight being 

 •04 oz. The alarm note is somewhat like the ' weet ' of the Chaffinch 

 and much louder than the Willow-Wrens call. 



*The Willow-Wren {Phylloscopiis trochilus L.). This species, as well 

 as the last-named, are locally known as feather-pokes, from the nest that 

 both species make and which is really a sort of pocket full of feathers. 

 It has not been known to arrive here before April 8th, nor have we any 

 positive evidence of its remaining after September 26th. Its delightfully 

 sweet little song may usually be heard all the time that it remains with us,, 

 though its notes become feeble towards the end of its visit. From 2-25 

 a.m. till 8-45 p.m. at midsummer it may be heard in every wood, plantation 

 or grove in the district. The nest, composed of dead grasses and herbage, 

 moss, leaves, bark, feathers, is usually built close down in the ground in 

 a wood or on a road-side bank, but sometimes it is raised 18 inches above 

 ground. Six is usually the number of eggs laid, not uncommonly seven, 

 and I have found as many as eight young birds in the nest. The eggs 

 vary in weight from -03 to -05 oz. I once saw in autumn a variety of this 

 species (or possibly, but less likely of the last named) with cream-coloured 

 plumage. 



The Wood-Wren {Phylloscopus sibilalrix Bechstein). Much less 

 generall}' distributed than the two last-named species, this bird is quite 

 as common in its own particular haunts, i.e. the fine old woods of deciduous 

 trees such as those of Raincliff and Forge Valley. Arriving sometimes as 

 early as April 23rd, I have not heard it sing after July loth. The nest, 

 strangely difficult to find, is, however, not always well concealed and 

 sometimes, as when raised only a few inches above the bare ground in 

 a beech wood, may be seen fifty yards away. Dead grasses, straw, dead 

 leaves, but nevey any feathers enter into its composition. Six eggs usually, 

 but I have found seven. 



*The Sedge Warbler {Acrocephalus phragmilis Bechstein). Less 



1918 Oct. 1. 



