50 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
CHIFFCHAFF. 
PHyLLoscopus couuysita, Vieill. 
Pl. X., figs. 7, 8. 
Geogr. distr.—N. Europe during the summer, extends eastwards to 
Persia; winters in S. Europe and N. Africa; occurs also in the 
Canaries and Teneriffe; arrives in Great Britain about the end of 
March or beginning of April, often remaining with us as late as 
October; occasionally resident. 
Food.—Inseets in all stages. 
Nest.—See frontispiece; an exact copy of a nest which I took in a 
wood near Newington, Kent, on the 12th May, 1882. 
Position of nest—On or near the ground in a bank, or behind a 
stump amongst tolerably dense grass or weeds; rarely above the 
ground; in open spots in woods, or at the edge of a grove where the 
ground is scantily covered with tangled herbage. 
Number of eggs.—5-6. 
Time of nidification.—V. 
I have never met with a nest containing eggs later than 
May; that represented on the frontispiece was found close 
to a narrow path about 500 yards from the entrance to a 
wood, and in a small open spot densely covered with 
tangled, dead, reedy grass; it rested upon the top of a 
short mossy stump, with its back to the path, and was so 
closely interwoven with the dead grasses that, unless I had 
found the bird building it a week previously I should have 
overlooked it entirely. A second nest in my collection was 
found by Mr. O. Janson in a cavity in a steep bank at the 
edge of a narrow, tangled thicket, such as in Kent is 
popularly known as a “‘ shore,” or ‘‘ shave.” 
The song of the bird is singularly monotonous, con- 
sisting of an incessant repetition of the same note twice 
uttered with the regularity of a pendulum, “ chiff-chiff,” 
not ‘ chiff-chaff,” as one would suppose from its name. 
In one of the earlier volumes of the ‘ Zoologist’ it is 
stated that a low bush, frequently of furze, appears to 
be a favourite locality for the nest ; I have not personally 
met with it in such a position, but I should not be surprised 
if I did. 
