WOOD WARBLER. 



749 



coverts, pure white : the quill- feathers are dusky, 

 edged on their exterior webs with yellows-green ; 

 the tail very little forked, coloured like the wing- 

 feathers, except the two outermost, which want 

 the yellow margins : the legs are of a yellowish 

 brown. The female caught on the nest w^eighed 

 three drams her plumage corresponds with that 

 of the male. 



This is a migrative species, the males arriving 

 towards the latter end of April, ten days or a fort- 

 night before the females j they both depart in Sep- 

 tember. It is not a rare bird, as it appears to 

 occur in all parts of England, in places congenial 

 to its habits ; it seems most partial to oak and 

 , beech woods, where it may be found by its pecu- 

 liar note, which is compared by Colonel Montagu 

 to the word twee^ drawn out to some length, and 

 repeated five or six times successively, terminat- 

 ing with the same notes delivered in a hurried 

 manner, at which time it shakes its wings ; the 

 latter only takes place during the incubating sea- 

 son, after which it is not so vociferous. It makes 

 its nest on the ground, beneath the shades of trees 

 or bushes, constructing it of dry grass with a few 

 dead leaves, and a little moss externally, and lined 

 with finer moss and a few long hairs : it is oval, 

 and differs materially from those of the Yellow 

 Willow Warbler and Pettychap Warbler, as those 

 birds line the nest with feathers : the eggs weigh 

 from eighteen to twenty-two grains; they are 

 white, sprinkled with rust-coloured spots, in some 

 parts confluent J they are six in number. 



