THE WILLOW WREN.
The Willow Wren.
(Phylloscopus tróchilus.)
This bird is called the Willow Wren because it loves the willow trees, the leaves of which, both in form and colour, are adapted to hide and protect it.
Its nest is well hidden, being often placed near the ground, under overhanging grasses and bushes, and built of materials found immediately around the chosen site; it can only be discovered by the eyes of an experienced bird-nester. It is covered over. The clutch consists of five or six little white eggs, speckled with reddish-brown.
It is a lively, active bird, that likes to frequent the tops of trees in thick woods, where it hops briskly from twig to twig, and is never still. But neither its colour nor its movements betray its presence and nature as does its voice, which is really extraordinarily strong and far-reaching, considering how tiny is the singer, and still more tiny its vocal organ. Its song is heard in spring, and sounds like Zilp-Zalp, Zilp-Zalp, and so on. Its busy call-note is Whit, whit! It feeds on the insects which it finds on the trees. In autumn, when starving, it eats elder-berries and such things, but does no harm whatever. As a loud harbinger of spring, and a bringer of glad-tidings we welcome and protect it.