Birds. 1059 



tain parts of Devonshire, nor Wales, on account very probably of the 

 great humidity, and quantity of rain, which annually occur in those 

 districts. 



Garden Warbler, Great Pettychaps, Curruca hortensis. Frequents 

 gardens in the summer. Both this bird and the blackcap are said to 

 be very destructive to fruit. The Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert states 

 that Bewick is wrong in making the passerine warbler an English spe- 

 cies ; that which he has figured being only Sylvia hortensis {Temm.) 

 and not the true passerine warbler. Mr. Yarrell has confirmed this, 

 and in his synonyms at p. 285 (vol. i.) has correctly referred both of 

 Bewick's birds to the present species. Its admirable song is well 

 characterized by the latter author, as " wild, rapid, and irregular in 

 time and tone ; but the rich depth is wonderful for so small a throat, 

 approaching in deep mellowness even to that of the blackbird." 



Common Whitethroat, Curruca cinerea. 



Willow Warbler, Sylvia trochilus. A delicate and elegant bird, not 

 uncommon, and coming here before the former species. The willow 

 wrens, or Sylviae, are so much alike in their general appearance, that 

 it requires a skilful observer to distinguish their specific differences. 



Obs. — I have heard occasionally, in the early spring, a small bird 

 uttering a monosyllabic note, which is like the sound of ching, ching, 

 ching, and which I take to be a species of Sylvia not described in 

 Yarrell's ' British Birds,' (i. 310). It is evidently the same bird as 

 Mr. Herbert has designated the ching ching, and which may, I think, 

 be named the smaller w T illow-wren, perhaps the S. rufa of Latham. 

 Mr. Herbert says that it migrates hither, and is not unfrequent in some 

 places in Yorkshire ; but he considers Messrs. Selby and Jenyns have 

 wrongly applied the specific name Hippolai's (Lath.), as a synonym 

 to the chiff-chaff. The last author also has added rufa [Temm.) as 

 another synonym, which is likewise incorrect. Moreover, the S. lo- 

 quax (Herb.) or chiff-chaff, whose song is dissyllabic, and sounds like 

 a loud repetition] of those two words, I have never heard in this 

 northern district. 



Common Golden-crested Regulus, Regulus cristatus. Some remain 

 with us all the year. Mr. Selby (Cat. 257) relates that vast numbers 

 migrate from the north of Europe. It seems really wonderful that so 

 diminutive a bird should be capable of such a long flight. For this 

 reason, the common people of Hartlepool name it "tot o'er seas." It 

 lives chiefly on the insects that are to be found on the fir and larch ; 

 and constructs a large and somewhat coarsely built nest, which is pen- 

 dant from the under side of a branch of a fir. The golden crests have 



