﻿34 Birds 



about the end of March or early April, and during September departs 

 for its winter home in Northern Africa. Woods, plantations, 

 copses with plenty of entangled undergrowth are the chief haunts 

 of the Willow Wren, where its cheerful song, frequently repeated, 

 may be heard throughout April and May. It also frequents 

 gardens and orchards on its arrival in this country, and again in 

 the autumn before leaving, when it does a great amount of good 

 in destroying enormous numbers of aphides (plant lice). It is 

 during the autumn that it spends most of its time in searching for 

 these pests on the foliage of fruit and other trees. These and 

 other destructive insects form the chief food of this beneficial 

 little bird. 



The dome-shaped nest is generally placed among grass on the 

 ground, and is made of moss, dried grasses, dead leaves and spider's 

 web, with a soft lining of wool, hair, and feathers. The eggs 

 number from four to eight, and are pure white, spotted with 

 rust-red. 



The Willow Warbler has the upper part olive-green, rump 

 yellower, tail and wings olive-brown, the feathers narrowly 

 margined with olive-yellow ; eye-streak, tibia, and under 

 wing-coverts pale lemon-yellow ; throat, breast, and under tail- 

 coverts yellowish ; rest of under-parts whitish ; bill, legs and feet 

 brown. The sexes are similar in plumage. 



GREAT TITMOUSE. (PL XVII.) 

 Partis major. 



The Great Tit, also known as the Ox-eye, is commonly 

 distributed over the British Islands, except in the north and west 

 of Scotland, where it is rarely met with. Its chief haunts are the 

 more wooded districts, especially plantations, orchards and gardens, 

 where it is constantly in search of insects, which form its chief 

 diet. The young are fed largely on caterpillars, which the 

 parent birds collect in enormous numbers, including many noxious 

 kinds, such as those of the common V. moth (Halia ivavaria), 

 which is destructive to the foliage of currant and gooseberry 

 bushes. The Great Tit will attack, kill and devour the largest 

 insects and their larvae. 



Holes in trees, walls and other secluded cavities are this bird's 



