142 The Chiff-chaff. 


of that month. I have heard the country people call 
this bird by the name of “Bank-bottle.” I have no 
doubt this name has been given it from the form of 
its nest and the place in which it is often built ; but it 
is not always made on the ground, as in some few 
cases it selects a spot a little above it, in a stunted 
bush with long grass growing through the twigs, or 
where sedge grows over and around the spot, but it is 
more often found in a hole on the ground made by a 
horse’s hoof, or other indentation of a similar kind, the 
cause of which it is almost impossible to conjecture. 
The shape of its nest is oval, with a small entrancea 
little on one side of the top, and is made of pieces of 
dried grass, leaves, and weeds, and lined with feathers 
and hair. 
This bird lays seven or eight eggs, prettily marked 
with purple-brown, which can be told from those of 
the willow warbler by that colour, as eggs of the latter 
are spotted with rust-colour. Both these birds build 
in the month of May: during that time the little 
warble of the Chiff-chaff may be constantly heard. 
When I was a schoolboy, I well remember catching 
