IIAY-BIRD. 
243 
is the Chouette or Grande Cheveche, of BiifFon, and perhaps has been 
noticed by other authors ; but from the circumstance of the ears not 
being mentioned, which is not discoverable in a dead specimen, con- 
fusion has arisen. 
Mr. Anstice says that a few years since, mice were in such vast abun- 
dance in the neighbourhood of Bridgewater, as to destroy a large portion 
of vegetation; and in the autumn a great many Hawk Owls resorted 
to the place in order to prey on them. They were found in the fields, 
amongst the high grass. 
We never observed it so far west as Devonshire, till the year 1809, 
when we procured two specimens about the middle of November. In 
the stomach of one of these were the fragments of a skylark and a 
yellow-hammer. 
HAY-BIRD (Sylvia trochilus, Latham.) 
* Sylvia tiochilus, Lath. Tnd. Orn. 2. p. 550. sp. 15. 5. — Motacilla trochilus, Linn. 
Syst. ]. p. 338. 49. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 995. sp. 49. — Asilus, Briss. Orn. 3. p. 
479. 45. — Rail, Syn. p. 80. A. 10. — -Will. p. 164. — Motacilla acredula, Linn. 
Syst. 1. p. 338. 49. B. — Sylvia fitis, Bechst. Naturg. Deut, 3. p. 643. — Le 
Pouillot ou le Chantre, Buff. Ois. 5. p. 344. — J6.pl. Enl. 651. f. 1. — Le Figuier 
brun et jaune, Biff. Ois. 5. p. 295. — Bec-fin Pouillot, Temm. Man. d’Orn. 1. p. 
224. — Fitis Sanger, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p.248. — Frisch, t. 24. f. 1. — 
Yellow Wren, Br. Zool. 1. No. 151. — Arct. Zool. 2. No. 319 White's Hist. 
Selb. 28. 55.' — Lath. Syn. 4. p. 512. 147. — Ib. Supp. 2. p. 238 Mont. Orn. 
Dict.^ — lb. Supp. — Lewin's Br, Birds, 3. t. 113. — Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 9. — Don. 
Br. Birds, 1. t. 14. — Scotch Wren, Br. Zool. 2. No. 152 Arct. Zool. 2. p. 
420 — L-.ath. Syn. 4. p. 513 Willow Wren, Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. p. 222 — 
Selby, pi. 47. fig. 3. p. 189.* 
Provincial. — Ground Wren. Ground Huckmuck. 
This species weighs about two drams and three quarters ; length 
five inches and a quarter. The bill is dusky above, yellowish beneath ; 
irides hazel. The whole upper parts of the plumage are of a greenish 
yellow-brown ; the under parts are white, tinged with yellow ; on the 
breast are a few yellow streaks ; quills dusky brown, edged with 
yellow ; coverts yellow, thighs the same ; tail like the quills, slightly 
edged the same ; over the eye a faint yellowish stroke ; legs light 
brown. 
This is a plentiful species in some parts. Frequents wooded and 
enclosed situations, especially where willows abound. Is frequently 
found with the wood wren, but does not extend so far to the west in 
England, as it is rarely met with in Cornwall. It comes to us early 
in April, and soon begins its usual song’, which is short, with little 
variety. About the latter end of the same month, or beginning of 
May, it makes a nest of an oval shape, with a small opening near the 
top, composed of moss and dried grass, and lined with feathers. This is 
placed in the hollow of a ditch, or in a low bush close to the ground. 
R 2 
