PHYLLOPNEUSTE SIBILATRIX. 
Wood- Wren. 
Sylvia sylvicola, Lath. Ind. Ora. Supp., liii. 
Motacilla sibilatrix, Naturf. xxvii. s. 47. 4. 
trochilus, Bew. Bi'it. Birds, a’^oI. i. p. 264. 
Sylvia sibilatrix, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. hi. p. 561. 
Curruca sibilatrix, Flem. Brit. Anim., p. 70. 
Phylloscopus sibilatrix, Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 184. 
Sibilatrix sylvicola, Kaup, Gray, Cat. of Gen. and Subgen. of Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 34, no. 543. 
Phyllopneuste sibilatrix, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 289, Phyllopneuste, sp. 2. 
sylvicola, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil i. p. 33. 
Of the three species of Leaf-Warblers which pass the summer in the British Islands, the Wood- Wren is the 
largest and the most delicately coloured, its yellow tints being rich, and the Avhite of its breast pure and un- 
sullied. It differs also both from the Willow-Wren and the Chiff-chaff in having somewhat more lengthened 
Avings, a circumstance which induced Dr. Kaup to assign it a distinct generic appellation ; but I think it will 
be better, in the present work, to associate it with the other Phyllopnemtes. With regard to the specific name 
also, I have adopted that of sibilatrix, on account of its being both appropriate and the term by which it is 
generally known ; but it would seem that the name of sylvicola was the first applied to it, by Latham, in the 
Supplement to his ‘ Index Ornithologicus.’ 
For a valuable paper on the birds of this form I Avould beg to refer my readers to the number of the ‘ Natura 
Artis Magistra’ of “la Commission Scientifique du Jardin Zoologique d’Amsterdam,” published in 1848, 
Avhere the subject has been admirably elucidated by my friend Professor Schlegel of Leyden, who, I may add, 
has also retained the name of sibilatrix for this species. 
The Wood-MTen is very generally dispersed over England and some parts of Scotland, but is far more 
local than the Chiff-chaff or the Willow-Wren. The Duke of Argyll Informs me that it is found on Her 
Majesty’s domain at Balmoral, on the banks of the Dee ; and, from the great attention His Grace has paid to 
our native birds, I have no doubt of the correctness of his assertion, although neither Mr. Selby nor Mr. Yarrell 
mention its occurrence north of the Tweed, and the species is not included in Professor Macgillivray’s 
‘ Natural History of the Dee-side and Braemar.’ So far as at present known, it is not found in Ireland. 
The Wood-Wren, as I have said, is rather local in its distribution ; at the same time, there are but few, if 
any, of the counties of England and Wales in which it is not to be found. Mr. Rodd states that “ it is very 
common in several localities of the eastern parts of Cornwall, particularly Trebartha Woods, where it breeds 
annually ; but it is not known in the western districts. This bird possesses two varieties of song, quite 
different from each other: the first, and the most usual, is the rapid, jarring trill from which it derwes its 
Latin name ; the second is a low, whining, plaintive call, repeated two or three times at uncertain intervals, 
resembling the Avords ‘ chea, chea, chea.’ ” Its favourite woods are those composed principally of beech and 
oak, as it is among the branches of these large trees that it seeks its food, flitting about on shivering wings, 
sometimes beneath the shady branches, at others in the more open glade, and not unfrequently rising high 
above the tops of the trees in chase of an insect, or to cheer the female with its peculiar song : it is of a rest- 
less disposition, and is continually moving from place to place within a limited area. The M^ood-Wren is 
strictly a summer visitant to this country, hut arrives later than most of the other migrants ; for it is not before 
the first week in May, when the leaves are expanding, that it may be seen or heard Avith certainty. It then 
betakes itself to our larger woods and plantations, and occasionally to hedgerows and gardens. Durino- the 
months of summer, many pairs may always be met with in the rich hanging woods of Cliveden, Taplow, and 
Hedsor. On the continent of Europe it is found as far Avest as the Crimea, and as far north as Sweden, 
Avherever localities occur suited to its habits and mode of life. 
In the materials selected for its nest, as also in the colouring of its eggs, the Wood-Wren differs from both 
its congeners ; for while the nests of the Willow-Wren and the Chiff-chaff are profusely lined with feathers 
and hair, that of the Wood-Wren is invariably composed of grasses alone. It is of a domed form, and is 
placed either on the ground or on the sunny side of a bank ; the grass or other vegetation frequently 
growing not only around, but sometimes through the outer wall of the nest, which is thereby so completely 
surrounded from obserA^ation as almost to defy detection. 
A nest discovered by Mr. Briggs (gardener to Matthew De Vltre, Esq., of Formosa), who possesses 
an intimate acquaintance with many of our native birds, was placed on a sloping bank, Avhere the rays of 
