In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 



203 



Curruea Sylvia. <( Lesser Whitethroat." Not so numerous with 

 us as the last species, but scattered generally far and wide. In 

 IS 70 I had nests of this species, the Reed Warbler, the Cole Titmouse, 

 the Greenfinch, the Pied Wagtail, the Robin, (containing a Cuckoo's 

 egg), the Wren, the Blackbird, and Thrush, all built in one little 

 clump of bushes in my garden, within a few yards of each other. 

 It was a long time before I discovered the nest of these little birds. 

 It was very small, the smallest nest I think I have ever seen, and 

 most ingeniously suspended in a cluster of hanging ivy, which I 

 passed again and again before I discovered it. In fact, I am con- 

 fident I should never have found it at all, but from the motions of 

 the parent birds, which told unmistakably that their nest was close 

 at hand. 



Sylvia Dartfordiensis. "The Dartford Warbler/ - ' Not so un- 

 common amongst us as is generally supposed, and may usually be 

 found in the thick gorse covers with which many of our downs 

 abound. Mr. Baker tells me that it is by no means uncommon on 

 the downs near Mere, where they are almost certain to be seen when 

 the hounds are beating through the cover. They are, however, ex- 

 tremely hard to procure as specimens, and when killed are as hard 

 to find amid the thick furze where they are almost sure to fall. Mr. 

 Hart shot a pair in 1874, and in 1876 he tells me he had more than 

 twenty specimens brought to him. 



Sylvia Rippolais. " The CliifT Chaff. One of our earliest spring 

 visitors, cheering us by its brisk little note in the March month, 

 and telling us that spring has at last arrived. This is one of the 

 numerous birds that derives its name from its note, uttered un- 

 ceasingly from some tall branch over your head. If there is a pair 

 of these little birds in the neighbourhood you cannot well be long 

 left in doubt of their whereabouts, as no adverse circumstances of 

 wind or weather seem able to silence the cock bird's merry little 

 throat. The egg of this species is more definitely marked than some 

 of the other small Warblers, being sprinkled with dark chocolate- 

 coloured specks on a clear white ground. 



Sylvia Trochilus. " The Willow Wren." Not uncommon, and 

 very like the last species, but very different in its note, which Meyer 



