WILLO^y-WR^:N. 
PHILLOSCOPUS TROCIIILTJS. 
The arrival of many of our small summer visitors extends over several weeks in the spring ; and the 
movements of this speeies are no exception to the general rule. According to my own ohservations, Willow- 
"Wrens are seldom, seen till the second week in April. Entries in my note-hooks show that stragglers 
have been met with, evidently just landed, as late as the 8th and 10th of May. On one occasion I received 
two or three wings, which, after careful examination, I came to the conclusion belonged to this species, from 
one of the liglit-ships olf the cast coast, and was informed the birds came on board during the first week 
in May. 
Though the difference between the IVillow-lVren and Chiffehaff is obvious to most scientific observers 
when the bird is fresh-killed, I douht if many who have written pages on their history could point out each 
species when first landed on our shoi’es. It may possibly be easy to distinguish separately the two species 
while flitting up a hedgerow or eagerly searching for insects in the herbage on the shingle-banks ; but I 
must confess I would not undertake to successfully accomplish this task myself until their accustomed 
haunts were reached. The Wood- AY ren can scarcely be confounded with the AYillow-AYren or Chiffehaff ; 
its brighter colours are particularly conspicuous when the sun is shining ; and though measurements prove 
there is little difference in the size, it has always the appearance of a longer and altogether larger bird. 
Not unfrequeutly AVillow-AYrens as well as Chiffehaffs resort to situations in which the timber is smaller 
and the undergrowth more dense than in the usual haunts of the AYood-Wren ; I have remarked this fact 
in many parts of the country. The nests of AYillow-AYrens and Chiffehaffs may occasionally be seen in 
such spots as a ditch in a hay-field, with simply a thorn-bush and a few brambles for shelter, or on a rough 
sloping bank beneath an overhanging hedgerow. The AVood-AVren evidently prefers the shade of larger 
and more spreading timber. There is, however, no certain rule, since, in England as well as in Scotland, I have 
detected the AA"illow-AVrcn and AVood-AYren breeding within a short distance of one another and in localities 
almost precisely similar. 
AATien once at home in their summer quarters there is little or no chance of confusing the AYillow-AYren 
and Chiffehaff. In many localities among the woodlands and coverts of Sussex and other southern 
counties the actions, song, and breeding-habits of the two species can be studied and compared from the 
same spot. I am unable to draw attention to any striking dissimilarity in the actions of the two birds. 
As they flit from leaf to leaf or hover for a moment in quest of an insect, it would, I am of opinion, be 
difficult to point out which was which, when, as is often the case, both species may be noticed on the limbs 
of the same tree. The note, however, which is repeatedly uttered, at once proclaims the species of 
the songster — that of the AYillow-AYren consisting of a short and somewhat plaintive warble, while the 
Chiffehaff merely gives utterance to a monotonous repetition of the syllables from which its English name is 
derived. 
