94 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



and sat down upon a tree-trunk to watch. The bird was very uneasy, but 

 continually came back to a birch tree, from which it frequently made short flights 

 towards the ground, as if it were anxious to return to its nest but dare not whilst 

 we were in sight. This went on for about half an hour, when we came to the 

 conclusion that the nest must be at the foot of the birch tree, and commenced a 

 second search. In less than five minutes I found the nest, with six eggs. It was 

 built in a slight tuft of grass, moss and bilberries, semidomed, exactly like the 

 nest of our Willow Warblers. It was composed of dry grass and moss, and lined 

 with reindeer-hair. The eggs are pure white in ground colour, spotted ver}^ thickly 

 at the large end, in the form of an irregular zone, with reddish brown, and more 

 sparingly on the remainder of the surface ; some of the spots are underlj-ing and 

 paler, but not grey, and on one or two of the eggs they are confluent. They 

 measure ■6-inch in length and ■45-inch in breadth. The markings are well-defined, 

 like those on the eggs of the Chiffchaff; but the colour is decided^ more like 

 that of the Willow Warblers." 



" Gatke says : — " The conditions which favour the passage of this bird to 

 Heligoland are an east wind, particularly a light south-east, and warm sunn}^ 

 weather. After its arrival it frequents principally the few tree-like willow shrubs 

 in the gardens between the houses of the upper plateau (Oberland). It appears to 

 have a special preference for Sa/ix sinitJiiania, for which reason I always cultivate 

 this species in my garden. It is hardl}^ ever seen on S. caprca or on elders, but 

 likes high thorns and the greater maples fAccr pseudo-platanusj. In its manner of 

 hopping through the branches of these tree-like bushes and garden-shrubs it exactlj^ 

 resembles the Chiffchaff and Willow Wren. In doing so, it does not, however, 

 make use of its wings for propelling itself, as the two last-named species do 

 incessantly, even when they do not require their wings for the purpose of fluttering 

 from one branch to another ; nor does this bird hop about in the unsteady, and to 

 all appearance, aimless manner of the latter birds, but progresses calml}^ and 

 gradualh' from the lower branches to the top of the tree or bush." 



Mr. F. W. Frohawk writes : — " On the ist or and of October, 1895, at 10 

 a.m., on one of those beautiful summer-like days we had during the last week of ' 

 September and first week of October, during our stay at West Buckland, S. Devon, 

 my wife (who is well acquainted with most of our native birds) told me she had 

 just seen, in the hedge surrounding the garden at the back of the cottage, some 

 little birds which were singing and were new to her, and ^vas sure they were 

 something rare. I at once went to the spot and immediately heard the song of a 

 bird which was unlike anything I knew, and directly aftenvards saw a small 

 Warbler hopping from one twig to another in the hedge and taking short flights 



