quills beneath greyish-brown: legs, toes and claws, pale
brown.
The whole length of the bird is about five inches; from
the carpal joint to the end of the longest primary, two inches
and a half; but, as has been mentioned (page 354) of the
Wlieatear and as is probably the case with many other widely-
ranging birds, this measurement is subject to much variety:
the first primary comparatively long; the second longer than
the sixth, but not quite so long as the fifth which is shorter
than the fourth.
The females scarcely differ from the males either in size
or plumage ; and these birds moult as soon as the breeding
season is over.
Young birds in the autumn are decidedly yellower than the
adults at the same season, and this tinge is retained to some
extent till the following spring.
The characters which distinguish the W ood-Wren from
the present species have been already pointed out. Though
minute some of them are unfailing, and especially that
afforded by the size and shape of the first primary. It is
far harder to separate the Willow-Wren from the Chiffchaff,
yet the two species are perfectly distinct. The Willow-Wren
is usually much the larger bird, and in fresh specimens of
the adult of each the colour of the legs is sufficiently diagnostic
; but practised ornithologists have been known to be
uncertain if not to fail in discriminating the young, and even
preserved specimens of the adult, for though generally the
greener colour of the Willow-Wren above, and its whiter
belly serve as a guide, these cannot always be trusted, any
more than occasionally the form of the wing and the relative
proportion of its primaries. I t is believed, however, that in
the Willow-Wren the third, fourth and fifth primaries have
their outer web suddenly narrowed towards the tip, while in
the Chiffchaff the sixth has also the same shape, but not
always the third*.
* This little matter may affect some people more than might at first appear,
for by a recent Act of Parliament (35 and 36 Viet. chap. 78) the Chiffchaff is protected,
while the Willow-Wren is not. To these birds the Act cannot much signify.
PASSBRES. S Yt, VTJDAi.
P h y l l o s c o p u s c o l l y b it a (Vieillot*).
THE CHIFFCHAFF.
Sylvia rufa\.
W i t h the exception of the Wheatear the Chiffchaff is
the first of the Warblers that visit us in spring, if indeed
it ever entirely leaves this island, and by its sprightly actions,
as well as its oft-repeated double-note, from which
it derives its name, is always a welcome visitor as a
harbinger of returning fine weather. This hardy little
bird, the existence of which was first shewn by White of
Selborne, is not uncommonly seen as early as the middle
of March, and towards the end of that month occurs pretty
generally, so that it is commonly heard in the woods before
the trees are in leaf to hide it. On its first arrival it is
said to feed chiefly on the larvae of the different species of
Tortrix that are rolled up in the unfolding buds, rendering
* Sylvia collybita, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. Nouy. fid. xi. p. 235
(1817).
+ Not Motacilla rufa, Boddaert, nor ilf. rufa, J. F. Gmelin.
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