I9I4- 
Benson. — Our Irish Warblers. 
his leave. In Normandy the bird is called from its note 
" compteur d'argent," which is in harmony with the word 
colly bit a derived from the Greek for a money changer. If we 
approach the Chiff-Chaff closely the song usually ceases, 
and instead of it we hear only a low chattering sound, 
" cheep," " cheep," " cheep." The alarm note, according 
to Meyer, is represented by the word " hoo-id," a note 
which can only be distinguished by a practised ear from 
that of the Willow Warbler. This is the smallest of all our 
migratory birds, its length being only four inches and a half. 
Willow W^arbler. — This is a delightful songster, and 
\'ery widely distributed in Ireland. We hear it everywhere, 
but in Switzerland I lind it very seldom. We do not prize 
this songster as we ought ; its song is certainly unique. 
Mr. Burroughs, the American naturalist, says of it : — 
" The most melodious strain I heard, and the only one that 
exhibited to the full, the best qualities of the American 
songsters, proceeded from a bird quite unknown to fame, 
in the British Islands at least ; I refer to the Willow 
Warbler." And Mr. Hudson says : — " The dying fall in its 
song is indeed affecting, no other bird is so touching in this 
respect, dying away as it does in a gentle murmur." This 
bird ceases to sing towards the end of July, but often resumes 
its song before its departure in September. 
The Whitethroat next claims a word, a bird of the 
thickets and lanes and green hedges, sallying ever and anon 
into the air singing all the while, a lively and merry warbler 
indeed, and with some very sweet notes as it sits still for a 
few moments to soliloquize. We often are first aware of 
its presence by a solemn warning " chaw " as we pass down 
a country lane. "Babillard" they call him in France. 
" That" said a dealer to me, " is the great Impayrial 
Polly-Whitethroat." 
The Sedge Warbler, often styled the " Irish 
Nightingale," breeds in every county in Ireland, and is a 
"mocking bird" of no mean repute. Mr. Ussher quotes 
Mr. Kinahan as saying that it imitates the Blackbird, 
Whitethroat, Wagtail, Titlark, &c. Gilbert White caUs it " a 
dehcate polyglot," and says that " it sings incessantly 
