NESTING OF WILLOW- WARBLER AND CHIFFCHAFF. 157 



herbage will permit, is the normal position of the Willow- 

 wren's nest. With regard to the Chiffchaff, I think it may 

 be fairly said that it never breeds actually on or in the ground. 

 I believe that the nest is generally raised about half a foot or 

 a foot from the actual ground, and sometimes it is considerably 

 higher." Mr. James Carter, of Burton House, Marsham, 

 wrote to this effect : — " My experience tallies with that of 

 Mr. F. Boyes and Mr. H. S. Davenport. I do not remember 

 ever having seen a nest of the Chiffchaff placed on the ground. 

 And although I have seen hundreds of nests of the Willow- 

 warbler, I cannot recollect ever having found one actually off 

 the ground ; but I have occasionally observed one in such a 

 distinct cavity that the aperture of the nest was below the 

 surface of the earth." Mr. W. J. Horn, of The Bank, 

 Hinckley, was no less brief than emphatic in his reply 

 to my query; he wrote as follows: — "I should like to be 

 allowed to mention that I have never found the nest of the 

 Chiffchaff on the ground." One other letter only appeared, 

 and this certainly raised a dissentient note. Colonel T. M. 

 Ward, of Sibton, Yoxford, Suffolk, testifies his surprise at 

 Mr. F. Boyes and myself never having found a Chiffchaff's 

 nest on the ground. He added that he could only suppose 

 that we did not look for it in such a situation, for it was 

 certain that the bird in question did nest on the ground, and, 

 in his opinion, did so as a rule ; moreover, that nests at any 

 elevation above the ground were exceptional. 



On the majority of extracts given I will offer no passing 

 comment ; they speak for themselves, and are the outcome of 

 the practical experience of the various writers, and, as such, 

 are ten thousand times more valuable as affecting a specific 

 issue than all the painstaking efforts of compilers put together. 

 That they were, withal, personally most welcome, as tending 

 to thoroughly re-establish confidence in the accuracy of my 

 own researches, goes without saying. On the other hand, 

 though I am far from denying that W T illow-warblers may 

 occasionally nest off the ground and Chiffchaffs on it, I hold 

 an unalterable conviction that such situations are entirely 

 abnormal to the respective species. I am also of opinion 

 that much unwitting blundering has been generated with 



