48

THE LESSER WHITETHROAT.

Sometimes it would descend to the floor, or perch on a table or chair, and would come and take a fly out of the hand, or drink milk out of a spoon, if invited; of this it was very fond. As soon as it was the least frightened, it would fly immediately to the cage, perch on the top, from thence to the door, and would enter in exactly the same manner as it came out. I have often hung it out at the window, perched on the top of its cage, with the door open, and it would never attempt to fly away. Sometimes, if a fly should happen to pass near, it would fly off and catch it, and return with it to the top of the cage. After remaining there a considerable time, it would either return into it or fly in at the window and perch on the cages of the other birds. I sometimes have placed the cage, with its door open, in the garden, where the ants were plentiful. It was always very shy of coming out, and would never venture far from it, and on being the least alarmed would return to it again.'

This, like many another feathered pet, eventually fell a victim to the claws cf Grimalkin. A strange cat came into the room where it was, and pulled it out from betwixt the wires of the cage, without leaving a feather behind, it was so very small.'

The Lesser Whitethroat is a merry bird,

Incessantly its chirping notes are heard;
Yet loves it not from out the brake to roam,
But tarries, e'er contented with its home.
So to her hearth the thrifty housewife clings,
And as she plies the wheel, the shuttle flings,
To show her cheerfulness of heart, she gaily sings.
The Whitethroat is a dweller on the brake,
And loveth not the thicket to forsake.
Its home is ever in the pleasant shade,
By budding sprays and leafy branches made;
And there it chatters on from day to day,
Pleased with itself, and innocently gay,
Careless and fearless how time speeds away.

AND DARTFORD WARBLER.

THE WOOD WREN (Phyllopneuste sylvicola), sometimes led the Yellow Wren. With this bird we

enter upon a new genus of the Warblers, called Phyllopneuste by Macgillivray, who describes the Wood Wrens as 'very small and delicate birds, of extremely active habits, intimately allied to the Sylviana on the one hand, and the Kinglets on the other. Three species occur in Britain, where they are migratory, visiting us about the middle or towards the end of April, and retiring in September. They frequent woods and bushy places, especially in the lower grounds, and by rivers, brooks, lakes, and ponds. They feed entirely on insects of various kinds, larvæ, pupæ, and worms, which they search for among the foliage, on the twigs, and sometimes on the ground. Their flight is rapid, gliding, and undulating, but generally short. Their song is short, lively, and melodious. They are generally distributed in the wooded districts, but are not equally dispersed.'

The species which is above-named, and of which the cut

D

50

THE WILLOW WREN.

is before us, is about five inches long; the upper parts of the plumage are light yellowish green, the throat and sides. of the breast yellow, the under parts white.

Mr.Weir states that he once found a nest of Wood Wrens which was built on the side of an old mossy ditch, in the middle of a plantation, about 290 yards from the house. They began it on Friday morning, the 2nd June, and finished it on Saturday afternoon. The female laid six eggs; the first on Sunday, the 4th, the last on Friday, the 9th, and began to sit on Saturday, the 10th. The ground colour of the eggs is white, with markings of reddish purple. In shape the nest was very much like the Willow Wren's, except that, instead of being lined with feathers, it was built with fine grass, and a few long hairs. He continues— These birds have a curious hissing and whistling note, from which, no doubt, they got the Sibilatrix, the scientific name by which the species is distinguished by Jennyns, Temminck, and some others. White of Selborne was the first to notice this as a British bird; it was described and figured by Lamb in the 'Transactions of the Linnæan Society. The following is part of his account of its habits:-'It inhabits woods, and comes with the rest of the summer Warblers, and in manners is much the same, running up and down trees in search of insects. I heard it first early in May in White Knight's Park, near Reading. It was then hopping about on the upper branch of a very high pine, and having a very singular and shrill note, it attracted my attention, being very much like that of the common Bunting; but so astonishingly shrill that I heard it at more than a hundred yards distant; this it repeated once in three or four minutes. I never heard these birds before last spring, and nevertheless I have heard nine in the course of a month.' But these, it should be observed, were in different parts of the country.

THE WILLOW WREN (Phyllopneuste trochilus).—This bird is known among us by the various names of the Willow Warbler, Willow or Ground Wren, Hay-bird, and Huckmuck. Macgillivray calls it the Willow Wood Wren, and places it in his genus Phyllopneuste with the Yellow Wood

CONFIDENCE AND ATTACHMENT.

51

Wren, and the Short-winged Wood Wren, or Chiff-chaff, with both of which this species is sometimes confounded. It may, however, be distinguished from the former by the darker olive-green tint of the plumage of the upper part of the body; by the light-coloured streak over the eye being smaller, and not so well defined; by all the under surface of the body, and under tail-coverts, being tinged with yellow; and by the shortness, as well as by the structure of the wing, the second feather of which is equal in length to the sixth. From the Chiff-chaff it is best distinguished by its pale brown legs, those of that bird being nearly black. So says Yarrell, who relates a remarkable instance of this bird's attachment to its nest, as recorded by a lady in 'The Field Naturalist:'

In the spring of 1832, walking through an orchard, I was attracted by something on the ground in the form of a large ball, and composed of dried grass. I took it up, and, upon examination, found it was a domed nest of the Willow Wren. Concerned at my precipitation, I put it down again as near the same place as I could suppose, but with very little hope that the architect would ever claim it again after such an attack. I was, however, agreeably surprised to find, next day, that the little occupier was still proceeding with his work. The feathers inside were increased, as I could perceive by the alteration in colour. In a few days two eggs were laid, and I thought my little protégé safe from harm, when a flock of ducks that had strayed from the poultry yard, with their usual curiosity, went straight to the nest, which was very conspicuous, as the grass had not grown high enough to conceal it, and, with their bills, spread it quite open, displaced the eggs, and made the nest a complete ruin. I now despaired; but immediately, on driving the authors of the mischief away, I tried to restore the nest to something like its proper form, and placed the eggs inside. The same day I was astonished to find an addition of another egg, and in about a week four more. The bird sate, and ultimately brought out seven young ones; but I cannot help supposing it a singular instance of attachment and confidence, after being twice so rudely disturbed.

The length of this bird is about five inches; the upper parts of the body are a light greenish brown, the feathers being edged with yellowish green; the cheeks and sides of the neck are a pale greyish brown, tinged with yellow; the foreneck and sides greyish white, streaked with yellow, the breast and abdomen white. Of the three British species of

the genus, this is the most common; it is a delicate and active little bird, equally pleasing on account of its liveliness and cheerful song. It arrives in the south of England early in April, and in the middle parts of Scotland about the 20th and 25th of that month, resorting to woods and thickets, especially those in the neighbourhood of water, where it remains until its departure late in September. It is extremely vivacious, and is seen briskly flitting about among the twigs in search of insects, frequently making little excursions on wing in pursuit of a fly, and sometimes betaking itself to the ground, where it hops and frisks with equal activity.

The nest is placed on the ground among the herbage, on a dry bank, under a hedge, or beneath a bush. It is composed of moss, and sometimes a few withered leaves; then of blades and stalks of chervil grass, with long, fibrous roots and hairs, and an internal layer of feathers; it is arched over. The eggs are from four to seven in number, white, with red or purplish spots; length about seven and a-half twelfths of an inch.

Mr. Hepburn, who observed the habits of this bird in the interior of Haddingtonshire, says :

On the 9th of May I heard a great many Willow Wrens singing on a tall hedge-row, in a well-sheltered glen; also, a few in the plantation, in which I observed the Wood Wren. I saw none anywhere else until the 12th, when they were very generally distributed. The situations which they most frequent, are gardens, plantations, and hedges, in the latter case giving the preference to those which have not been subjected to pruning. Their song is very pleasing, consisting of several plaintive notes in a regular descending scale. During windy weather, we only hear a plaintive note, resembling whe-u-ee. The song of this species is heard till the middle or end of July. In autumn great numbers may be seen gliding about amongst our fruit-trees and bushes. I do not think they ever eat fruit, their sole object being to feed on the multitudes of insects which resort thither. The young are fledged about the beginning of July, and from this neighbourhood the species takes its departure about the 8th or 10th of September.

Bishop Mant thus describes the bird

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Where the gay sallow's bursting down
Is gilt with many a golden crown,