156 THE OKNITHOLOGIST. 



and scores of nests of both species, while, apart from the 

 dissimilarity of the eggs on most occasions, an appreciative 

 ear will at once detect the difference in the alarm-notes ; that 

 of the Willow-warbler is a plaintive kind of t-wheet, the initial 

 letter all but imperceptible ; that of the Chiffchaff an equally 

 plaintive kind of tewy. I am not cognizant of any single 

 author who has commented on the difference in the two alarm- 

 notes, or who has drawn attention to this reliable test for 

 discriminating betwixt the two species, which are, I admit, 

 vastly alike at even the shortest of ranges. 



Two or three years ago — I have the whole of the published 

 correspondence by me — I raised the question in the Natural 

 History columns of The Field as to whether ornithologists 

 generally were agreed as to the normal site for the nest of the 

 Chiffchaff? At that time I was on the point of commencing 

 my " Original Sketches of British Birds," and finding my ex- 

 perience respecting the nesting site of the species above men- 

 tioned opposed to the verbal descriptions of most authors, and 

 diametrically at variance with Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's teaching 

 in the first volume (then recently published) of " A Handbook 

 to the Birds of Great Britain," wherein he wrote with regard 

 to the nest of the Chiffchaff, ' ' This is generally placed on the 

 ground" — I repeat, finding an array of erudite and accom- 

 plished authors against me, I began to have qualms about the 

 reliability of my own observations and researches, so forthwith 

 decided to ascertain, if possible, the views of other field- 

 naturalists. Mr. F. Boyes, of Beverley, wrote thus : — " It is, 

 I think, pretty generally believed that the Chiffchaff usually 

 nests on the ground. I wish to state that, after many years of 

 careful observation, and by catching the birds on the nests in 

 most cases, I have long since come to the firm belief that the 

 Chiffchaff rarely, if ever, nests on the ground ; at least, I have 

 never found its nest so placed. On the contrary, I believe 

 the Willow-warbler never nests off the ground — that is, it 

 nests as close to the ground as the herbage will allow, and 

 never in a bush like the Chiffchaff." Mr. Alfred C. Chapman, 

 of Moor House, Leamside, Durham, expressed himself on the 

 question as follows : — " There can be no doubt whatever that 

 on or in the ground itself, or as near to the ground as the 



