S. trochilus, Lath. Tem. Motacilla trochilus, and M. acredula, Lin. Sylvia titis, Bcchst. Yellow Wren, or Yellow Warbler, Prov. Willow Wren, Ground Wren, Ground Huck-muck. Grey-green above ; the wings be neath and the quill feathers yellowish ; eye-brows yellow ; bill dusky above, yellowish beneath ; irides hazel ; legs light brown. Weight nearly three drachms, and length five inches and one-fourth. The under parts of the female are less purely tinted, and less yellowish. This species is very plentiful in some wooded situations, especially where willows abound ; and it is frequently found in company with the wood wren, but does not generally extend so far west in England, being rarely met with in Cornwall. It visits us early in April, and soon begins its song, which has three or four variations, beginning with a slender broken cluck, which is succeeded by a series of detached silvery sounds, like the clinking of crown-pieces that are told over, and then commences the full song, which is soft, pleasing, and well sustained. This, its spring and sum mer warble, gives place in autumn to a tender whistle, ex pressed by tweet, tweet, and nearly correspondingdo that of the red-tail and nightingale. The yellow wren is a very active bustling bird, incessantly and busily fluttering from branch to branch, or creeping up and down the trunks of trees, searching for, and darting on insects. It likewise exhibits slow and regular oscillations of the tail upwards and downwards. These birds arrive in small flocks of fif teen or twenty, but immediately separate into pairs. Shortly after their appearance, they are sometimes surprised by frost, and drop down dead ; and yet they pervade Europe from Sweden to Greece. In the northern regions it settles on the loftiest branches of the birch trees, and makes the air resound with its melodious song. About the latter end of April, or beginning of May, it makes an oval-shaped nest, composed of moss and dried grass, and lined with feathers, with a small opening near the top, placed in the hollow of a ditch, or in a low bush, close to the ground. The female lays six or seven white eggs, spotted with light rust colour, especially towards the large end. We shall here take occasion to observe, that the eggs of the next species in order are invariably spotted with dark purple, which is one sure mark of distinction, to which we may add the superior dimensions of the trochilus, and the colour of the legs; for otherwise the two birds are with difficulty discriminated. An individual of the present species had nestled in the bank of one of Mr. White's fields, near Sel borne. That gentleman and a friend had observed the bird as she sat on the nest ; but they were particularly careful not to disturb her, although she eyed them with sonic degree of jealousy. Some days after, as they passed the same way, they were desirous of remarking how the brood went on ; but no nest could be found, until Mr. White happened to take up a large bundle of long green moss, thrown as if at random over the nest, in order, no doubt, to mislead the eyes of intruders.
S. hippolais, Lath. Tern. Motacilla hippolais, Lin. &c.. Lesser Petty-chaps, or Petty-chaps Warbler, Prov. C'hib Chon, Chiff-Chaff, Choice and C1/2eap. Greenish-ash above, yellowish beneath ; belly whitish ; eye-brows white. This hardy little bird, which is one of our earliest warblers, ap pears in March, and remains till October, and sometimes all winter. It is the smallest of our migrants, weighing only about two drachms, and scarcely exceeding four inches and a half in length. As its general plumage sin gularly coincides with that of the yellow wren, they have been often confounded. The present species is common in many parts of Europe, and is much diffused in England, especially in the neighbourhood of woods and hedges, al though, from the smallness of its size, and the shyness of its manners, it it supposed by many to be of rare occur rence. On its arrival, it commences its note, which is continued through the summer, and long after the yellow wren is silent. It prepares its nest early in spring, placing
it on or near the ground, in a tuft of grass or low bush, forming it of an oval shape, with a small aperture near the top, and composing it of coarse dry grass and dry leaves externally, and fine downy feathers within. On these last arc deposited five or six white eggs, sprinkled with purplish red, especially at the larger end. It chiefly subsists on small winged insects.
S. sibilatrix, Bechst. Tern. S. sylvicola, Lath. Wood Wren, Green 1-1'ren, Yellow Willow Wren, or Large Yellow Wren. Greenish above, yellowish beneath ; eye-brows yellow ; abdomen and vent snow white. Weighs about two drachms and forty grains, and measures upwards of five inches in length. The female is rather larger than the male, but has the same description of plumage. Al though noticed by Mr. White in his Natural History of Selburne, this species is described by Mr. Lamb in the second volume of the Linnean Transactions as new ; and Colonel Montagu communicates a more detailed account of it in the fourth volume of the same work. Owing to its resemblance to the yellow wren and to the lesser petty chaps, with both of which it has been frequently confounded, it has been little noticed as a distinct species ; yet it is far from rare either in England, or in:various countries of the continent of Europe. The males arrive towards the latter end of April, ten days or a fortnight before the females, and both depart in September. They seem to be partial to oak and beech woods, in which they may be discovered by their peculiar note, which has been compared to the word twee, drawn out to some length, and repeated five or six times in succession, terminating with the same, de livered in a hurried manner, and accompanied with a shaking of the wings during the incubating season. They make their nest on the ground, beneath the shade of trees or bushes, constructing it of dried grass and of a few dead leaves, mixed with a little moss, and lined with finer moss and a few long hairs. The eggs, which are commonly six, have a dull white ground, and are sprinkled all over with rust-coloured spots, which are occasionally confluent, and form a circle near the obtuse end.
S. pensilis, Lath. Motacilla pensilis, Lin. &c. Pen. sile, or Hang-nest Warbler. Grey above, yellow be neath ; abdomen and eye-brows white ; lora spotted with yellow ; wing-coverts with alternate bars of black and white. An elegant little creature, measuring four inches and three quarters in length, and inhabiting St. Domingo and some of the West India islands, where it feeds chiefly on insects and fruits, and continues its delicate song throughout the year, The female does not fix the nest at the forking of the branches, as is usual with most other birds, but suspends it to binders hanging from the netting which she forms from tree to tree, especialy those which fall from branches that hang over the rivers and deep ravines. The fabric consists of dry blades of grass, the ribs of leaves, and exceedingly small roots, interwoven with the nicest art, and it is fastened on, or rather worked into, the pendent strings, forming, in fact, a small bed rolled into a ball, so thick and compact as to exclude the rain; and it rocks in the wind without receiving any harm. But the elements are not the only enemies against which this bird has to contend. With wonder ful sagacity it provides for the protection of its nest from intrusion. The opening is not made on the top, nor on the side, but at the bottom. Nor is the entrance direct ; for, after the bird has made its way into the vestibule, it must pass over a kind of partition, and through another aper ture, before it desends into the abode of its family. This lodgement is round and soft, being lined with a species of lichen which grows on the tress, or with the silky down of plants.