Part 5

The eggs number five or six, of a light bluish-green or bluish-white ground colour, marked with reddish-brown and dark brown spots and streaks.

=THE WOOD WREN.=

The Wood Wren, or Wood Warbler as it is sometimes called, measures just over five inches in length. On its upper parts it is olive-green tinged with yellow, except in the case of its wings and tail, which are dusky. The chin, cheeks, throat, and breast are yellow, and under parts white. A line of bright yellow runs from the base of the bill over the eye. The bird may be distinguished from its relative, the Willow Wren, by its larger size, broader yellow band over the eye, greener upper parts, and whiter abdomen, also by its longer wings. Its nest is also a safe guide to correct identification, as will be shown presently.

The female is similar to the male in her appearance.

This species loves woods containing tall beech and other trees, and although of somewhat local occurrence, may be met with in nearly all suitable parts of England and Wales. It is rarer in Scotland and Ireland. It is difficult to study, except at the nest, on account of its habit of hunting for insects amongst the leaves near the tops of trees. However, its plaintive call note and very characteristic song are constantly being uttered, and can never be mistaken for those of any other bird.

Its nest is built on the ground amongst thick herbage, is oval in shape, and domed. The outside consists of dry grass, dead leaves, and moss, with an inner lining of fine dead grass and horsehair. Although in general appearance the structure is almost exactly like those of the Willow Wren and Chiffchaff, it may always be distinguished with certainty from them by the absence of feathers.

The eggs, numbering five or six, are white, thickly spotted all over with dark purplish-brown and violet-grey.

The song, although short, is clear, loud, sweet, oft repeated, and sounds something like sit-sit-sit-sit-sit-see-eeeeeze. Each of the opening notes of the song is uttered more rapidly than that which preceded it, until they develop into a kind of trill, rising in pitch all the time, and finally end in a long, shaky, thin one. The melody is accompanied by rapid vibrations of the wings and tail, as if the loud voice shook the body of the wee singer.

The call note is a plaintive twee or tway tway, frequently used as a kind of alternative to the song described above.

Although such a small bird, the Wood Wren is very courageous at the nest. The individual figured in our illustration repeatedly attacked my hand with bill and wings when I attempted to disturb her in her maternal duties. She was very angry with me when the photograph was secured, and incidentally it shows the great length of wing in this species.

This Warbler is a late arrival upon our shores, coming about the end of April and departing again in September. It lives entirely upon insects.

=THE RING OUZEL.=

Mountain solitudes, with lonely crag-strewn glens and rough, deep gulches, “far removed from the busy haunts of men,” form the home of this brave, independent bird. If a few stunted rowan or whitethorn trees peep shyly from sheltered corners and crevices here and there the better will the situation be liked.

The Ring Ouzel arrives in this country in April and quits our shores again during September and October. It is about the same size as the Common Blackbird, and behaves more or less like a member of that well-known species. In colour it is dull black with an edging of dark grey to the feathers. Across the chest stretches a broad crescent-like band of pure white. The female is rather lighter coloured, and the white gorget on her breast is neither so broad nor so pure.

This species breeds in the West of England, in the six northern counties, and in suitable parts of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

Its song consists of a few clear, powerful notes that would sound out of place if heard anywhere but amongst the bird’s wild, lonely surroundings. During a calm spring evening the plaintive, lonesome notes of the Mountain Blackbird, as this species is sometimes called, can be heard at a great distance because the singer has a habit of delivering its music from a high boulder or cairn.

The alarm cry is a loud tac-tac-tac, which is uttered with great volubility and vehemence when the nest containing young ones is approached.

I have found the nest of the Ring Ouzel, which is a very similar structure to that of the Blackbird, amongst long heather growing upon a steep bank by a burn-side, amongst rocks in the face of small broken cliffs, under sheltering stones projecting from the ground, on steep hillsides, and in holes in old stone walls. I once discovered one amongst rushes on flat ground, but this is an exceptional kind of situation.

Although a comparatively shy, wary bird under ordinary circumstances, the Ring Ouzel is possessed of great courage, which it rarely fails to display in the defence of its young. I have on more than one occasion watched members of the species driving stray Kestrels away from the neighbourhood of their nests. They will fly close round the head of a human intruder, uttering discordant cries if their chicks are molested.

The eggs are very similar to those of the Common Blackbird, bluish-green in ground colour, marked with reddish-brown spots. The markings are, as a rule, however, larger than those on the eggs of the above-mentioned species.

Young Ring Ouzels have no white collar or gorget on the breast. Their feathers are brownish-black, edged with dirty white, and when they sit still on a grey limestone or under a ledge they are, in consequence, difficult to see.

=THE TREE PIPIT.=

We have three Pipits breeding in the British Islands--viz. the Meadow, Rock, and Tree, which are all very well named according to their respective habits. Owing, however, to, their similarity of general appearance, the two latter species are frequently mistaken for the first, and described as Titlarks.

The plumage of the Tree Pipit is sandy brown in colour, streaked with dark brown above, light buff with streaky dark brown spots on breast, and dull white on the under parts. It is rather larger than the Meadow Pipit, its colours are brighter, and it has a curved hind claw which is shorter than the toe from which it springs, whereas in the case of its relative the Meadow Pipit the hind claw is long and nearly straight. This shows a wonderful provision of Nature. The first-named bird is wholly migratory, and perches on trees, hence the short curved claw must render it very useful for grasping branches; the second is only partially migratory, great numbers staying in this country throughout the year, and its long hind claw must prove very advantageous as a snowshoe during the winter.

As its name implies, the species under notice frequents parts of the country where trees grow, preferably in clumps with grassy glades between.

The male Tree Pipit is a very sweet singer, and makes his music more attractive by the manner in which he delivers it. He alights generally on the topmost branch of some favourite tree, from which elevation he mounts the air to varying heights of from twenty to sixty or seventy feet by a series of rapid wing beats, commences to utter his song with a chee, chee, chee, chee, when he has reached a sufficient altitude for his purpose, and delivers it whilst he is gliding down slowly in a kind of half-circle through the air with outstretched wings, expanded tail, and dangling legs.

When in full song this bird is a most energetic vocalist. I timed one upon my watch last spring, and found that on an average he sang five times per minute, and three times out of the five the music was delivered upon his favourite perch. The perching song only lasted two or three seconds, as a rule, whereas the flying one took from five to seven seconds--according to the height from which the bird started--to get through.

The song of this species has been likened to that of the Canary, and in some respects it does undoubtedly resemble it. It commences with the lark-like notes already mentioned, and ends with a ringing tsee, tsee, tsee, or whee, whee, whee.