GULDENSTADT S REDSTART. O 



of that low, soft, plaintive rebuke wliich the little green 

 Willow Warbler poured into the ears of those who in- 

 vaded its domed nest, so carefully hidden in the long 

 grass; or the rich thrill of that saucy Blackcap, as he 

 heralds the coming warmth of spring and summer, by 

 the song of triumph which announces his nuptial vic- 

 tory against all rivals? Then, again, there is the 

 Grasshopper Warbler, with his invisible form and long 

 sibilant note, and the Reed Wren, with his garrulous 

 lecture, as he winds among the herbage by the river 

 side, or the Sedge Warbler, as it sends forth in the 

 still night its song of rivalry with the Nightingale. All 

 these are salient beauties in that mental landscape 

 which the naturalist often creates for himself, when the 

 fortunes of life may have carried him among sterner 

 and less poetical realities. 



The SyhiadcB may be taken as typical of the Insec- 

 twoTce — their food being almost exclusively insects. But 

 this is not quite true, for, notwithstanding the assertion 

 of the late Mr. Yarrell to the contrary, the Willow 

 Warbler will sometimes join in the more constant 

 depredations of the Whitethroat. 



Temminck divided the group into the Rwerains, or 

 those whose habits were aquatic; Sylvains, or those 

 found more or less inhabiting woods; and Muscivores, 

 or those which live principally upon flies, which they 

 catch on leaves or on the wing. Count Von der 

 Miihle has separated them into seven sections, which 

 form, I think, a more natural division, and which 

 I shall therefore adopt, giving at the same time that 

 to which the bird is referred by Temminck, so as to 

 keep up uniformity of arrangement. Count Miihle's 

 sections are — ' 



1. Ruticillce, Rothlinge. — Redtails. 



