304 SYLVIADÆ.
unspotted white. The food of this species is flies, aphides,
and insects generally in their different states. It does not
eat fruit ; and when seen in a garden should be allowed to
remain unmolested as one of the gardener’s best friends, from
the number of insects it consumes daily.
A remarkable instance of the attachment of this bird to
its nest is thus recorded in the Field Naturalist by a lady.
“ 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 in
my hands, and upon examination found it was a domed
nest of the Willow W^ren, Sylvia trochilus. 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 its
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. That 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.”
WILLOW WAB B L ER. 305
The young are hatched by the end of May, or the beginning
of June. Mr. Sweet says this species soon become
very tame in confinement.
The Willow Warbler is plentiful in the counties around
London, and in a westerly direction visits Hampshire, Wiltshire,
and Dorsetshire. Colonel Montagu states that at the
date of his observations, this bird did not go so far west as
Devonshire and Cornwall, and there is no reason to suppose
that he was mistaken ; but from whatever cause it may arise,
this bird is now become a constant summer visiter, not
only to Devonshire and Cornwall, but to Wales: it was
seen also in the summer of 1834 by a party of naturalists
in the district of Connamara in the west of Ireland; and
according to Mr. Thompson of Belfast, it is a regular summer
visiter to the North of Ireland. In a direction eastward
and northward of London, this bird is plentiful in
Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Derbyshire, Durham, and Northumberland.
It is probably found in various parts of Scotland,
since Mr. Selby observed it in Sutherlandshire in the
summer1 of 1834, even to the extremity of the island, and
says, “ it was noticed wherever copse or brushwood abounded.
About Tongue it was very plentiful, and the same at
Laing, the margins of Loch Naver, and the wooded banks of
Loch Assynt, but it was the only species of the genus Sylvia
seen there.”
I have been unable to trace this bird to the Scottish
islands ; yet it visits Denmark, is known to arrive in Sweden
before the end of April, and was seen by Mr. Hewit-
son in Norway. On the Continent of Europe, in summer,
this bird is common : it is plentiful in Spain and Provence ;
appears about Genoa in April, and remains till September;
and is common in Italy. I t was observed at Trebizond by
Mr. Strickland; and Mr. Gould states, that he has seen
specimens from the western portions of India.