26 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE, 
Gilbert White remarks ^ : " Wonderful is the regularity 
observed by Nature ! I have often remarked that the 
smallest willow wren, called here the chif-chaf, from its 
two loud sharp notes, is always the first spring bird of 
passage, and that it is heard usually on March 20th, when 
behold, as I was writing this very page, my servant looked 
in at the parlour door, and said that a neighbour had 
heard the chif-chaf this morning ! These are incidents 
that must make the most indifferent look on the works of 
the Creator with wonder ! " 
It must not be forgotten that the name of chiffchaff, 
now universally applied to this bird by British ornitholo- 
gists, was the old Hampshire name communicated by 
White to his correspondents, as the above extract suf- 
ficiently proves. 
He also distinguished this " small uncrested willow- 
wren " by its note, describing it 2 as " a harsh loud chirp," 
and the bird itself as " the chirper." 
25. Phylloscopus trochilus. Willow- Warbler. 
Willow-Wren. 
A common summer visitor to all parts. 
It arrives in the beginning of April and remains until 
the middle of September. 
It has been procured at the Needles Lighthouse on 
migration; at midnight, May nth, 1902, ten were killed 
against the light. 
' Letter v. to Marsham. Selborne. March 20th, 1792. 
^ Letter xvi. to Pennant. Selborne. April i8lh, 1768. 
