WILLOW WARBLER. ool 
of the egg seven lines and a half, and six lines in_ breadth. 
Mr. Henry Doubleday tells me he has seen the eggs of 
this bird of a pure unspotted white. The food of this 
species is flies, aphides, and insects generally in their 
different states. It does not eat fruit; and when seen in 
a garden should be allowed to remain unmolested as one 
of the gardener’s best friends, from the number of insects 
it consumes daily. 
A remarkable instance of the attachment of this bird to 
its nest is thus recorded in the Field Naturalist by a lady. 
“In the spring of 1832, walking through an orchard, I 
was attracted by something on the ground in the form of 
a large ball, and composed of dried grass. I took it up 
in my hands, and upon examination found it was a domed 
nest of the Willow Wren, Sylvia trochilus. Concerned 
at my precipitation, I put it down again as near the same 
place as I could suppose, but with very little hope that 
the architect would ever claim it again after such an at- 
tack. I was, however, agreeably surprised to find, next 
day, that the little occupier was still proceeding with his 
work. ‘The feathers inside were increased, as I could per- 
ceive by the alteration in colour. In a few days, two eggs 
were laid, and I thought my little protégé safe from harm, 
when a flock of Ducks, that had strayed from the poultry- 
yard, with their usual curiosity, went straight to the nest, 
which was very conspicuous, as the grass had not grown 
high enough to conceal it, and with their bills spread it 
quite open, displaced the eggs, and made the nest a com- 
plete ruin. I now despaired ; but immediately on driving 
the authors of the mischief away, I tried to restore the 
nest to something like its proper form, and placed the eggs 
inside. That same day I was astonished to find an addi- | 
tion of another egg; and in about a week four more. The 
