WILLOW-WREN.
PHJLLOSCOPUS TROCHILUS.
THE arrival of many of our small summer visitors extends over several weeks in the spring; and the
movements nl this sjieeies are no except ion to the general rule. According to my own ohservatioos, Willow-
Wrens are seldom seen till the secoud week in April. Entries in my note-hooks show that stragglers
have been met with, evidently just landed, as late as the Htli and 10th of May. On one occasion I received
two or three wings, which, alter careful examination, 1 came to the conclusion belonged to this «peoies, from
one of the light-ships off the east coast, and was informed the birds came on hoard during the first week
in May.
Though the difference between the Wilhiw-Wrou and Chill'ehatf is obvious to most scientific observers
when the bird is fresh-killed, I doubt if many who have written pa-res on their history could point out each
species when first landed on our shores. It may possibly be easy to distinguish separately the two species
while flitting up a hedgerow or eagerly searching for insects in the herbage on the shingle-banks; but 1
must confess I would not undertake to lUOOCtsfullj accomplish this task myself until their accustomed
haunts were reached. The Wood-Wren caa scarcely he confounded with the Willow-Wren or Chiflciialf;
its brighter colours are particularly conspicuous when the sun is shining; and though measurements prove
there is little difference in the size, it has always the appearance of a longer and altogether larger bird.
Not .infrequently Willow-Wrens as well as Chitfchall's resort to situations in which the timber is smaller
and the undergrowth more dense than in the usual haunts of the Wood-Wren ; I have remarked this fact
in many parts of the country. The nests of Willow-Wrens and Cluifehalfs may occasionally be seen in
such spots as a ditch in a hay-field, with simply a thorn-hush and a few brambles for shelter, or on a rough
sloping bank beneath an overhanging hedgerow. The Wood-Wren evidently prefers the shade of larger
and more spreading timber. There is, however, no certain rule, since, in England as well as in Scotland, I have
detected the Willow-Wren and Wood-Wren breeding within a short distance of one another and in localities
dmost precisely sinul
When once at ho
ind Chiffchaff. In
; the Willow-Wrc
As tbev Hit from leaf to leaf or hover for a moment In quest ol an insect, it wcuia, 1 am ot opinion, ne
difficult to point mil which was which, when, a- is often the case, both species may be noticed on the limbs
of the same tree. The note, however, which is repeatedly uttered, at once proclaims the species of
the sender -that of the Willow-Wren consisting of a short and somewhat plaintive warble, while the
(•i.m;.l,.,<l'„„wlv .rives nttemneo to a monotonous rendition of the svllables from which its English name is