. A history of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . al, and may beheard till the beginning of August. THE LEAST WILLOW WREN. CHIFF CHAFF. ^ This bird is about an inch less in length than the Yel-low Willow Wren, and about half an inch shorter thanthe last. The upper parts of its plumage are darker thantliose of the last two, somewhat inclining to a mouse co-lour J its breast is of a dull silvery white, from which, insome places, it is called the Linty-white : its legs are dark. The song of this bird, though similar to that of thelast, is still weaker : in both it consists of a single
. A history of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . al, and may beheard till the beginning of August. THE LEAST WILLOW WREN. CHIFF CHAFF. ^ This bird is about an inch less in length than the Yel-low Willow Wren, and about half an inch shorter thanthe last. The upper parts of its plumage are darker thantliose of the last two, somewhat inclining to a mouse co-lour J its breast is of a dull silvery white, from which, insome places, it is called the Linty-white : its legs are dark. The song of this bird, though similar to that of thelast, is still weaker : in both it consists of a single strain,frequently repeated; and their little simple song, whenpoured forth from the branches of the loftiest trees, isheightened in tone only by the aid it receives from theecho. This species visits this country among the first sum-mer birds of passage, but from the smallness of its num-bers they are thinly dispersed ; from which, together with,their preferrmg the shades of solitary woods and coverts,they are but rarely to be seen. BRITISH BIRDS. 233 5^.^^. THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. [Mofacilla regulits, Lin.—Le Roitelety BufF.) This is supposed to be the least of all the Europeanbirds -, it is certainly the smallest of the British kinds>being in length not quite three inches and a half,* andweighing only seventy-six grains. Its bill is very slenderand dark ; eyes hazel; on the top of its head the feathersare of a bright orange colour, bordered on each side withblack, which forms an arch above its eyes, and with whichit sometimes conceals the crown, by contracting themuscles of the head; the upper part of the body is of ayellowish olive green colour ; all the under parts are of apale reddish white, tinged with green on the sides; thegreater coverts of the wings are of a dusky brown, edgedwith yellow, and tipped with white : quills dusky, edgedwith pale green, as are also the feathers of the tail, butlighter: the legs are of a yellowish brown. The female * The .body, when st
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