260 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



time when they sing most beautifully, more so even than when 

 the females arrive. At times they positively seem to curse one 

 another, the Blackcap always being the more excitable of the 

 two. A Wood-Warbler was singing among the oaks. You 

 nearly always find them in oaks or birches, and generally on the 

 side of a hill. I always look on the Wood-Warbler as one of 

 the most beautiful birds we have, both in colour and form. 



Coming out into a little lane, which passed through the 

 middle of these woods, I saw a pair of Lesser Whitethroats 

 mating. The male Warblers are always worth watching when 

 the females arrive ; they have such curious ways of flirting. The 

 Wood- Warbler seems to select two trees, and flies backwards and 

 forwards between them, singing as he gets to each one. The 

 Chiffchaff wanders about in the air like a big moth, flapping his 

 wings very slowl}\ The Blackcap makes vain attempts to touch 

 the top of his head with his tail. But most curious of all is the 

 Grasshopper- Warbler ; for some reason he runs about on the 

 ground with a leaf in his bill — what the object of it was I could 

 never quite tell — the female running about like a mouse, hardly 

 ever uttering a note, though I have heard it once, very much like 

 the young birds when fully fledged. Whitethroats abound in 

 this lane, some in bright plumage, and others so dull you would 

 hardly know them to be the same bird. They arrive in this 

 state ; two birds arrive at the same time, one in beautiful 

 plumage, the other quite dull. Why this is I do not know, 

 never having followed them to their winter quarters. The 

 plumage of all Warblers very soon becomes dull, especially that 

 of Whitethroats ; I have shot a Wood-Warbler at the end of June 

 in the most lovely plumage, and, when skinned, found it was 

 covered with fat. The same with Yellow Wagtails, and these 

 could only have lately arrived, for their brilliant yellow lasts 

 but a week or two after they come to this country. 



Turning into the wood again, among the oaks, I saw a pair of 

 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers playing about, chasing one another 

 from tree to tree ; interesting birds to watch, especially when 

 they have young. I have sometimes heard them rattling on a 

 tree nearly a mile away; this particular pair evidently had a 

 nest close by. Farther on in the woods a Green Woodpecker 

 was laughing away to himself. The Greater Spotted is the 



