101 
MOTAC1LLA. 
Linn. under the names of M. fylvatica and M. fylvicola. 
It was defcribed in the Linnaean Tranfa&ions, vol. ii. by 
Mr. Thomas Lamb, A. L. S. having been firft noticed by 
him in Whitenights Park, near Reading, in May 1792; 
and afterwards in the I(le of Wight and other parts of 
Hampfifire. It was then confidered as a new fpecies in 
England, and indeed as a non-defcript; but it is now 
afcertained to be a bird very common in various parts of 
Europe, and to be the Afilus major of Briffon, the Re- 
gulus non criftatus major of Willughby, and the larged 
yellow wren of White, Hid. Se'ib. p. 55. Thefe fynonymes 
have been afcertained by G. Montague, efq. F.L. S. who 
has given a more particular defcription of the bird in the 
ivth vol. of Linn.Tranf. He fird met with it at the latter 
end of April, in the year 1790, on an oak-tree, at the 
verge of a wood in the parifli of Eadon Grey in the county 
of Wilts. “ It is an active redlefs bird, and, at the time 
I (hot it, was exceflively bufy in purfuing fome fpecies of 
winged infeft, which feems to be its principal food. Upon 
near infpe&ion it might readily have been miftaken for 
the trochilus, had I not been attentive to its note and 
aftions. As this elegant little fpecies of warbler feems to 
have efcaped the notice, or at lead the hidoric attention, 
of ornithologids, probably from confounding it with the 
yellow wren, it was my intention to prefent it to the 
Linnaean Society as foon as opportunity od’ered the dif- 
covery of its ned and eggs, in order that it might be 
added to the lid of Britilh birds. In a tour through 
South Wales the following fpring, I found this fpecies 
not unfrequent in the oak-woods of Carmarthenfhife. 
The fil'd I faw that feafon was on the 29th of April; 
and, in a week after, a great many more arrived, which, 
from their inceflant chirping and aftions, I took to be 
all males. About the middle of May I plainly difcovered 
fome females were arrived, and on the 30th of that month 
I had the good fortune to find two neds, by watching 
the birds with fome of the materials in their bills, and 
foon after took them with fix eggs each; and, in order to 
clear the matter beyond doubt, I caught one of the fe¬ 
males on the ned, and fliot the male, who approached 
very near, at the fame time. It may not be improper to 
remark, that I found thefe birds in greated plenty in 
coppice-woods of oak of about eighteen or twenty years’ 
growth : their flight is fliort, flow, and vibrating, as they 
move from fpray to fpray, feldom varying their fituation 
above twenty yards from the fird choien fpot till the 
young take wing, when they quit the lower branches, 
and take to the highed trees, learching for infcfts amongd 
the upper foliage. At this time they are not fo vocife¬ 
rous, and have entirely left off that conflant vibration of 
their wings, which feems peculiar to the courting and 
incubating feafon. It is not to be fuppofed that this 
fpecies is a new or accidental vilitant to thefe parts, but 
that its near refemblance in fize and colour to the yellow 
■wren has probably occafioned it to be midaken for that 
bird. But whoever will bring them together wall at once 
obferve, that the plumage of this is much more vivid; 
and, as a fpecial chara&eriflic mark, the belly and under 
tail-coverts are invariably of a pure w hite, w'hich in the 
yellow wren are tinged, and the latter part dallied with 
yellow. There is no didinftion in the plumage of the 
fexes of either fpecies : this (hould not therefore be mif¬ 
taken for the male of the other, which doubtlefs has often 
been the cafe. Befides, were every other mark of dif- 
tinftion wanting, the note, manners, and habits, of this 
widely differ: this only inhabits woods in the breeding 
feafon : its cry, for it cannot be called a fong, bears not 
the lead refemblance to any other fpecies: the fird part 
feems to exprefs the word tivee drawn out to lome length, 
and repeated five or fix times fucceflively, terminating in 
notes fomething of the fame tone, but delivered in a 
hurried manner, (baking its wings at the fame time. This 
fpecies weighs about two drams forty grains; the length 
e inches and a quarter: the bill is dulkyj irides hazel; 
Vol. XVI. No. 1096. 
the upper part of the head, back, fcapulars, and upper 
coverts of the tail, are of a lively yellow green: over the 
eye is a bright brimdone-coloured droke; the cheeks 
and throat yellow; the upper part of the bread, white 
tinged with yellow; the lower part, belly, and under tail- 
coverts, pure white: the quill-feathers are dulky, edged 
on their exterior webs with yellow green; the tail very 
little forked, coloured like the wing-feathers, except the 
two outmofl, which want the yellow margin: the legs 
are of a yellowifh brown. The female caught on the ned 
weighed three drams. This bird is a migratory fpecies, 
and like mod, if not all, our fummer migrants, the males 
precede the other fex in their vernal flight a week or ten 
days. It leaves us about the middle of September. The 
ned is formed on the ground, beneath the (hade of trees 
or bufhes, condrudfed of dry grafs, with a few dead leaves 
and a very little mofs externally, and lined with finer 
grafs and a few long hairs. Its (liape is oval, with the 
entrance near the top, like thofe of the yellow wren and 
fmaller pettichaps ; but materially differs from them in 
the internal part of its drudlure, as thole birds inva¬ 
riably line their neds with feathers. The eggs weigh 
from eighteen to twenty-two grains; their colour white, 
fprinkled all over with rub-colour fpots: in fome thofe 
markings are confluent. Thefe obfervations were in¬ 
tended to be prefented to the Linnaean Society immedi¬ 
ately after the difcovery of the ned and eggs; but, by 
fome unaccountable means, my notes were miflaid. This 
delay has given me an opportunity for farther enquiry; 
and I have now afcertained that this bird is alfo found 
in Germany, where it is likewife a migratory fpecies, as 
we are informed by Dr. Beckdein in the 27th volume of 
Naturforfcher, p. 38. To my friend Mr. Latham I am 
indebted for the tranflation of that part of the work for 
my infpeftion ; where I find under the denomination der 
laulvffgelchen, little leaf-bird, an excellent defcription of 
this bird and its manners; though the author does not 
feem acquainted with its ned and eggs. He adds (Mota- 
cilla fibilatrix) fnperciliis luteis,Jupra virefcens, Jubtus fla- 
vefcens. This author particularly remarks the whitenefs 
of the under tail-coverts, the flrong chara&eriftic mark 
of didinftion. After what has been (aid of this hitherto 
little-known beautiful fpecies of warbler, little can be 
added to elucidate its hiflory: to my former remarks I 
only fay, that, (ince my intimate acquaintance with the 
bird, I have met with it in plenty in all the fouthern 
counties and wooded parts I have been in, efpecially 
where oak or beech abound.” In the Leverian Mufeum 
it was ticketed “green wren,” N° 271. 
ft. Size of the yellow wren; but differs in having the 
plumage very pale ferruginous; head and upper parts 
greenifli brown ; and the fore part of the neck and bread 
fulvous. This flew on-board a (hip in the Mediterra¬ 
nean, near the Spaniffi fnore. 
208. Motacilla arundinacea, the reed-wren : fize of the 
preceding; weight (even pennyweights nine grains : bill 
half an inch; the under mandible fieffi-colour; irides 
olive brown ; eyelafiies dirty white ; from the bill to the 
eye a broad dreak of tawny white; general colour of 
the plumage greenifli olive brown; quills and tail brown, 
with paler edges ; chin white; the red of the under part 
tawny white; bafe of all the feathers black; legs light 
olive; male and female much alike. The ned is com- 
pofed externally of dry dalks of grafs, lined mod com¬ 
monly with the flowery tufts of the common reed ; but 
fometimes with fmall grades, and a few black horfe-hairs 
to cover them. This ned is ufually fufpended, or hung 
like a hammock, between three or four dalks of reeds, 
below the panicles of flowers, in fuch a manner that the 
dalks run through the fides of the neds at nearly equal 
didances; or, to lpeak more properly, the nefl js tied on 
to the reeds with dead grafs, and fometimes (as being 
more eligible when it can be had) even with thread and 
packthread, emulating the work of a fempdrefs, as was 
D d the 
