certainly does not go so far north as the 1\ trochilus ; but I both heard and shot a single individual near 
the celebrated waterfall at Drontheim. This, however, is the furthest point in that direction at which, so 
far as I am aware, it has ever been met with. On the continent of Europe it is very generally spread over 
all the southern and central countries, but it is nowhere so plentiful as the P. trochilus. It is more local 
than that species, and never ascends to so great an elevation on the mountains. With us it affects woods, 
coppices, gardens, and thick hedge-rows, the tops of the highest trees as well as those of the lowest growth 
being equally frequented by it. In its manners it is ^’ery tame and fearless, admitting of the nearest 
approach without evincing any signs of alarm. If the situation of its nest he intruded upon, it becomes 
lestless, and continues to flit to and fro from branch to branch, thereby often betraying that which it is 
desirous to conceal. Besides its ordinary bi-toned note of chilp-chilp or cheep-cheep, likened by some to the 
syllables chiff-chaff (whence its trivial name), it utters a mournful, piping call whenever it is disturbed or 
alarmed. This alarm-call is also uttered by the Wood-Wren, and, I believe, by its still nearer ally the 
Willow-Wren. 
The situation of the nest of the Chiff-chaff is more varied than those of its immediate congeners ; it is 
also much more perfect in its structure, being both well and neatly built. It is of a domed form, very 
similar to that of the common Wren (Troglodytes Europoeus), but with a larger opening near the top : some- 
times it is placed on the ground, among thick herbage and grasses ; at others, in a tuft of grass on the 
sunny side of a shelving bank ; and occasionally among the thick branches of furze, bramble, and other 
bushes. I found a very beautiful one in a tuft of grass near the bridge in Mitcham Grove. The exterior of 
this nest was composed of leaves, thin shreds of bark, and grasses ; next to this was a series of finer grasses, 
then a layer of cow-hairs and feathers, and lastly an inner lining of the breast-feathers and hackles of the 
domestic fovid ; the whole forming a very warm receptacle for the seven eggs contained within. Two nests 
found on the 9th of May, 1859, in Cliveden Woods, were placed, one in a tuft of grass, the other in a 
bramble-bush one foot from the ground; both were dome-shaped, and built of grasses and leaves, and lined 
with feathers. There were six eggs in one nest, and two in the other. The eggs are of a delicate pinky 
flesh-colour, sparingly dotted with purplish brown ; when blown, the flesh-tint, which appears to be due to 
the colour of the yelk showing through the almost transparent shell, disappears, the ground-colour becomes 
an opaque milky white, and the spots, of course, darker and more conspicuous. 
Another nest, taken at Formosa on the Thames, May 14, 1860, had a rough outside covering of coarse 
dry grass, next to which was a series of fine straws compactly interwoven, and within this an inner lining of 
hair, moss, and a few feathers. It was built in a laurel-bush overhanging the water. Tlie eggs were five in 
number, and, like those above described, were finer, both as regards the delicacy of colour and the sharpness 
of the outline of the spots, than those of the Willow-Wren (ffhyllopneuste trochilus). About twelve days are 
occupied in the duty of incubation ; and at least two broods are reared during the bird’s summer sojourn in 
this country, which commences in April, and terminates in August, when, with the other little warblers, it 
departs for Africa,^ — the adults probably going at one time, and their progeny at another ; for we may readily 
suppose that they remain to the last, in order to gain strength and vigour for the arduous journey they have 
to perform : and how wonderful is the power granted to these frail and recently helpless little birds of 
migrating to so great a distance, and of effecting a successful passage over our usually tempestuous seas ! 
The sexes are alike in plumage ; and the young closely resemble the adults in colour before they leave 
us for their winter quarters ; still their plumage is more suffused with yellow. 
Head, all the upper surface, and wing-coverts dark olive-brown, becoming paler or more yellow on the 
loAver part of the back and upper tail-coverts ; primaries brown, edged with oll^^e ; tail brown ; under surface 
dull or brownish white, suffiised with yellow; under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow; over the eye an 
obscure yellowish stripe ; irides very dark brown ; upper mandible dark olive ; under mandible fleshy ; legs 
blackish brown ; soles of the feet yellow ; claAvs black. 
Willow-Wren : — weight 160 grains ; total length 4f inches ; Avlng tail 2i; tarsi f. 
Chiff-chaff : — Aveight 124 grains ; total length 44 inches ; Aving 2-iV ; tail 24 ; tarsi f . 
M^ood-MTen: — weight 160 grains ; total length 4i inches ; wdng2-H-; tail 24 ; tarsi 44. 
The Plate represents the tAVO sexes of the natural size, on a branch of the Ul^nus major, as it appears in 
the month of April. 
