Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/480

450 rate, in the summer of 1901 and in the district lying between Harlech, Dolgelly, and Towyn. In Mr. Howard Saunders's 'Manual of British Birds' the Wood-Wren is stated to be "found in suitable localities throughout England, and, more sparingly, in Wales"; but nowhere in England has the writer met with it in such remarkable numbers as in the lovely wooded valleys of the part of Wales spoken of above. It is no exaggeration to say that it was there at least twice as numerous as the Willow-Wren or Whitethroat, or any other of the Warblers. The Wood-Wren often uses a curious wailing cry, generally when an intruder is near its nest, but often also at other times; this cry consists of a series of about eight loud notes, regularly timed, sometimes maintained at the same pitch, but more often sinking slightly so that the last note of the series is about one tone of an octave below the first. The effect of this is very striking, and arrests the attention in a moment.

There are people who believe they can invariably tell the Garden Warbler's song from the Blackcap's; in fact, the writer until recently held that opinion in regard to himself. But his confidence was shaken in the early summer of this year (1901) by experience in a large Yorkshire woodland, where both these birds were singing in some number. There is, of course, no difficulty whatever in distinguishing the typical Garden Warbler's song from the typical Blackcap's; the difficulty comes in when the discovery is made that the Blackcap is in the habit of singing them both. Careful attention will reveal the fact that the Blackcap quite frequently sings for a considerable time a wandering melody that is indistinguishable from that of the Garden Warbler; at the end he may or he may not break out into his own loud and liquid strain, which is a song of fixed length and cadence. It should be understood that what is here referred to as being indistinguishable from the Garden Warbler's song is not the subdued and pretty soliloquy that the Blackcap practically always prefixes to his own typical strain; the notes referred to are so exactly similar in character to the Garden Warbler's that it may be truly said that the Blackcap, on occasion, at least, sings the Garden Warbler's song as well as his own.

Few birds are held in less esteem for their vocal powers than