PHYLLOPNEUSTE SIBILATRIX.
Wood Wren.

Sylvia sylvicola, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., hii.
Motacilla sibilatriv, Naturf. xxvii. s. AV Ae
trochilus, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i, p. 264.
Sylvia sibilatriz, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iii. Pp. 561.
Curruca sibilatrix, Flem. Brit. Anim., p. 70.
Phylloscopus sibilatriv, Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 184.
Sibilatriv sylvicola, Kaup, Gray, Cat. of Gen. and Subgen. of Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 34,
Phyllopneuste sibilatrix, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 289, Phyllopneuste, sp. 2.
sylvicola, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil i. Pasoe

no. 543.

Or the three species of Leaf Warblers which pass the summer in the British Islands, the Wood Wren is the
largest and the most delicately coloured, its yellow tints being rich, and the white of its breast pure and un-
sullied. It differs also both from the Willow Wren and the Chiff-chaff in having somewhat more lengthened
wings, a circumstance which induced Dr. Kaup to assign it a distinct generic appellation ; but I think it will
be better, in the present work, to associate it with the other Phyllopneustes. With regard to the specific name
also, I have adopted that of scdi/atriv, on account of its being both appropriate and the term by which it is
generally known; but it would seem that the name of syleicola was the first applied to it, by Latham, in the
Supplement to his ‘ Index Ornithologicus.’

For a valuable paper on the birds of this form I would beg to refer my readers to the number of the ‘ Natura
Artis Magistra’ of “la Commission Scientifique du Jardin Zoologique d’Amsterdam,” published in 1848, where
the subject has been admirably elucidated by my friend Professor Schlegel of Leyden, who, I may add, has also
retained the name of szdclatrix for this species.

The Wood Wren is very generally dispersed over England and some parts of Scotland, but is far more
local than the Chiff-chaff or the Willow Wren. The Duke of Argyll informs me that it is found on Her
Majesty’s domain at Balmoral, on the banks of the Dee; and, from the great attention His Grace has paid to
our native birds, I have no doubt of the correctness of his assertion, although neither Mr. Selby nor Mr. Yarrell
mention its occurrence north of the Tweed, and the species is not included in Professor Macgillivray’s ‘ Na-
tural History of the Dee-side and Braemar.’ So far as at present known, it is not found in Ireland.

The Wood Wren, as I have said, is rather local in its distribution ; at the same time, there are but few, if
any, of the counties of England and Wales in which it is not to be found. Mr. Rodd states that “it is very
common in several localities of the eastern parts of Cornwall, particularly Trebartha Woods, where it breeds
annually; but it is not known in the western districts. This bird possesses two varieties of song, quite
different from each other: the first, and the most usual, is the rapid, jarring trill from which it derives its
Latin name; the second is a low, whining, plaintive call, repeated two or three times at uncertain intervals,
resembling the words ‘chea, chea, chea.’”” Its favourite woods are those composed principally of beech and
oak, as it is among the branches of these large trees that it seeks its food, flittnmg about on shivering mange,
sometimes beneath the shady branches, at others in the more open glade, and not unfrequently rising high
above the tops of the trees in chase of an insect, or to cheer the female ma Hs peculiar song : u is one coe
less disposition, and is continually moving from place to place within a limited ooo Ee i God Wren is
strictly a summer visitant to this country, but arrives later than most of the other migrants ; for it is not before
the first week in May, when the leaves are expanding, that it may be seen or heard with certainty. a then
betakes itself to our larger woods and plantations, and occasionally to hedgerows no gandens: During the
months of summer, many pairs may always be met with in the rich hanging woods of Cliveden, Taplow, and
Hedsor. On the continent of Europe it is found as far west as the Crimea, and as far north as Sweden,
wherever localities occur suited to its habits and mode of life. : ;

In the materials selected for its nest, as also in the colouring of its eggs, the Wood W io hikers HOU both
its congeners ; for while the nests of the Willow Wren me the Chiff-chaff are Oe He a
and hair, that of the Wood Wren is invariably composed of grasses alone. It is of a ee orm, and is
placed either on the ground or on the sunny side of a bank; the grass or other vegetation frequently

. -ometimes throue’ . s+ wall of the nest, which is thereby so completely
growing not only around, but sometimes through the outer we ,

7 servation as % fy detection.
surrounded from observation as almost to de \ oa
i M: Ww » Vitr Hsq., of Formosa), who possesses
A nest discovered by Mr. Briggs (gardener to Matthew De Vitre, Esq., ( a), |

: . cee cecal ie a sloping bank, where the rays of
an intimate acquaintance with many of our native birds, was placed on a sloping bank, a
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