32 THE WOOD-WREN 



except in the extreme wes< of England, wherever there are hay- 

 fields and trees these birds are to be found ; they buUd their nests 

 principally of hay, and very frequently place it in the border of 

 a hay-field. But, by whatever name it is known, it is a cheerful 

 and active little bird, to which our woods and groves are much 

 indebted for their melody. It is abundant and generally diffused, 

 arriving in England early in April, and remaining until the middle 

 of September. During the greater part of this period, it may be seen 

 fluttering about the tops of trees, hunting the twigs and leaves for 

 insects, and occasionally catching flies on the wing. It often, too, 

 descends to the ground, and picks up insects among the herbage. 

 I have never heard it sing on the ground ; but while employing 

 itself aloft, it rarely allows more than a few minutes to elapse 

 without going through its short and sweet song. This, though 

 very agreeable, possesses no great variety, and is composed of 

 about twenty or thirty notes, the latter ones of which are repeated 

 rapidly, and form a natural cadence. For many years this plea- 

 sant little melody, or the simpler song of the Chiff-chaff, has been 

 the first sound I have heard to announce the arrival of the summer 

 birds of passage ; perhaps it is on this account that it is with 

 me, at all seasons, a favourite rural sound. 



Ornithologists seem weU agreed that the WiUow-warbler's 

 food consists entirely of insects. This may be so, but I am much 

 mistaken if a brood of this species annually hatched in a bank 

 of furze adjoining my garden, do not, in conjunction with Black- 

 caps and Whitethroats, pay daUy visits to a certain row of red rasp- 

 berries in my garden. It may be that they come only in quest 

 of aphides, but I have certainly seen them in dangerous proxi- 

 mity to clusters of the ripest fruit, which, when they were scared 

 away, bore evident marks of having been pecked by birds. The 

 nest of the Hay-bird resembles that of the Wood-warbler, but 

 it is lined with feathers. The eggs are usually from five to seven, 

 and of the same size and shape, but the spots are rust-coloured and 

 limited in number. 



THE WOOD-WREN 



PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILAtrIX 



Upper plumage bright yellowish green ; a broad streak of sulphur-yellow over 

 the eye ; sides of the head, throat, insertion of the wings and legs bright 

 yellow ; rest of the under plumage pure white ; second primary equal 

 to the fourth, third and fourth with the outer web sloped off at the 

 extremity ; legs pale brown. Length five inches and a half ; breadth 

 eight and three quarters. Eggs white, speckled so thickly with purplish 

 brown as almost to conceal the ground. 



The Wood-warbler, Willow-warbler, and 'Chiff-chaff resemble 

 each other so closely in size, colour, and habits, that except by 



