450 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



rate, in the summer of 1901 and in the district lying between 

 Harlech, Dolgelly, and Towyn. In Mr. Howard Saunders's 

 ' Manual of British Birds ' the Wood- Wren is stated to be " found 

 in suitable localities throughout England, and, more sparingly, 

 in Wales"; but nowhere in England has the writer met with it 

 in such remarkable numbers as in the lovely wooded valleys of 

 the part of Wales spoken of above. It is no exaggeration to say 

 that it was there at least twice as numerous as the Willow- Wren 

 or Whitethroat, or any other of the Warblers. The Wood-Wren 

 often uses a curious wailing cry, generally when an intruder is 

 near its nest, but often also at other times ; this cry consists of a 

 series of about eight loud notes, regularly timed, sometimes 

 maintained at the same pitch, but more often sinking slightly so 

 that the last note of the series is about one tone of an octave 

 below the first. The effect of this is very striking, and arrests 

 the attention in a moment. 



There are people who believe they can invariably tell the 

 Garden Warbler's song from the Blackcap's ; in fact, the writer 

 until recently held that opinion in regard to himself. But his 

 confidence was shaken in the early summer of this year (1901) by 

 experience in a large Yorkshire woodland, where both these birds 

 were singing in some number. There is, of course, no difl&culty 

 whatever in distinguishing the typical Garden Warbler's song 

 from the typical Blackcap's ; the difficulty comes in when the 

 discovery is made that the Blackcap is in the habit of singing 

 them both. Careful attention will reveal the fact that the 

 Blackcap quite frequently sings for a considerable time a wan- 

 dering melody that is indistinguishable from that of the Garden 

 Warbler ; at the end he may or he may not break out into his 

 own loud and liquid strain, which is a song of fixed length and 

 cadence. It should be understood that what is here referred 

 to as being indistinguishable from the Garden Warbler's song 

 is not the subdued and pretty soliloquy that the Blackcap prac- 

 tically always prefixes to his own typical strain ; the notes 

 referred to are so exactly similar in character to the Garden 

 Warbler's that it may be truly said that the Blackcap, on 

 occasion, at least, sings the Garden Warbler's song as well as 

 his own. 



Few birds are held in less esteem for their vocal powers than 



