WILLOW WEENS. 
63 
it proved, in all respects, a very motacilla irochilus; only that it 
is a size larger than the two other, and the yellow-green of the 
whole upper part of the body is more vivid, and the belly of a 
clearer white. I have specimens of the three sorts now lying 
before me ; and can discern that there are three gradations of 
sizes, and that the least has black 
legs, and the other two flesh-coloured 
ones. The yellowest bird is consi- 
derably the largest, and has its quill- 
feathers and secondary feathers tipped 
with white, which the others have 
not. This last haunts only the tops 
of trees in high beechen woods, and sibiious Pettychaps. 
makes a sibilous grasshopper-like noise, now and then, at short 
intervals, shivering a little with its wings when it sings ; and is, 
I make no doubt now, the regulus non cristatus of Ray ; which 
he says " cantat voce strididd locustce.^' Yet this great ornitho- 
logist never suspected that there were three species.* 
* There is considerable resemblance throughout all the members of the restricted genus gylvia'. 
all are nearly of the same size, and the same prevailing tinge of yellowish green (though in some 
of them it is very dingy) more or less pervades the whole. Of the five well-ascertained European 
species, three only, those mentioned by Mr. White, are known m Britain ; the other two (S. 
icterina and 5. iiattereri) visiting only the more southern parts of the coatinent. They are all 
closely allied, and are pretty and delicate little slender-billed birds, that pass the whole summer 
in cleansing our trees from insects, and exact from us no tribute in the way of fruit in return. 1 
shall subjoin the distinctive characters of our three native kinds somewhat in detail, as they are 
still very commonly confused together by bird-stuffers and ordinary observers, under the one 
name of willow-wren,^' a terra probably applied originally to the sedge-reedling. 
The sibilous pettychaps (S. sibilans), or wood-wren" of the books, is a trifle larger than the 
two others, though not " considerably" so, as mentioned in the text, there being but little differ- 
ence in size between it and the next species. It is the most unlike the rest of any, and may 
always be at once told in the hand by its broad and well-defined clear yellow eye-streak, by the 
much brighter and more delicate green of the upper parts, and by the pure silvery white of the 
belly and under tail-coverts, which last, in both the other species, are slightly tinged with yellow- 
Its attitudes are in general more crouching, and its wings are longer than in the others, these 
latter reaching, when closed, more than half-way down the tail. It is a common summer visitant, 
pretty geaerally dispersed throughout the woodland districts of our island, arriving always three 
weeks or a month later than its congeners, and chieflj' found where there are tall trees, particu 
larly oak and beech, at no time frequenting (like the others) open commons and furze-brakes. 
This species^ may be easily recognised (and at a considerable distance) by its singular and very 
remarkable tremulous note, which is heai-d during the greater part of summer, this is often com- 
menced while flying rather slowly from tree to tree, at which time it consists merely of a mono- 
tocou5 repetition of the sound tzit, prolonged till the bird alights on a bough, when immediately it 
is emitted gradMally quicker and quicker, till it dies away in a kind of thrill, during the utterance 
of which the w ings are shivered in a remarkable manner. When it commences this strange song 
Mpou a tree, the first note is not repeated so many times successively, and now and then, at 
intervals, a most plaintive, melancholy cry is sent forth, which is common to both sexes. This 
species has also another peculiarly mournful note (expressible by the sound tee-ip), which is 
constantly reiterated when any one is near the nest, more especially when the young are newly 
hatthfcd. The nest is in all the genus of an oval shape, with a rather wride opening near the top, 
that of the sibilous pettychaps being at once distinguishable from those of its congeners by being 
never lined with feathers, as is invariably the case with those of both the others. The eggs ar« 
