234 Birds. 
green ; the under parts are pale yellow, and a streak of 
yellow passes over the eyes. The wings and tail are 
brown, edged with yellowish green ; and the legs are 
inclined to yellow. This bird is migratory, visiting us 
usually about the middle of April, and taking its depar- 
ture towards the end of September. The female con- 
structs her nest in holes at the roots of trees, in hollows 
of dry banks, and other similar places. It is round, and 
not unlike the nest of the Wren. The eggs are dusky 
white, marked with reddish spots, and are five in num- 
ber. A Willow Wren had built in a bank of one of the 
fields of Mr. White, near Selborne. This bird, a friend 
and himself observed as she sat in her nest, but were par- 
ticularly careful not to disturb her, though she eyed them 
with some degree of jealousy. Some days afterwards, as 
they passed the same way, they were desirous of remark- 
ing how the brood went on; but no nest could be found, 
till Mr. White happened to take up a large bundle of 
long green moss, which had been thrown, as it were, care- 
lessly over the nest, in order to mislead the eye of any 
impertinent intruder. 
Mr. White distinguished no fewer than three varieties 
of the Willow Wren. "I have now," he writes, "past 
dispute, made out three distinct species of the Willow 
Wrens, which constantly and invariably use distinct 
notes." " 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 considerably the largest, and has its quill feathers and 
secondary feathers tipped with white, which the others 
have not. The last haunts only the tops of trees and 
high beechen woods, and makes a sibilous grasshopper- 
like noise, now and then, at short intervals, shivering a 
little with its wings when it sings." Mr. Markwich, 
however, declared that he was totally unable to discover 
more than one species. 
