THE LITILE GREY WARBLER.*

Otago Witness, Issue 2631, 17 September 1902, Page 59

THE LITILE GREY WARBLER.*

Little grey warbler, Flitting around, Merrily whistling Musical sound. Now in the apple tree, Now in the briar, Cheerfully carolling, High and then higher. Builduig a swinging nest, Rocked by the bieeze, Still goes he quavering Through the pine trees. Looking foi insect life Under the bark, Feeding his little ones, Warbling. Hark! No matter where he goes, There doth he sing, Summer or winter time, Autumn or spring. In rain or in sunshine, AU the day long, H s asraphic fluting Is Nature's love-song. We love to be near thee, Musical bird, Dearest and sweetest New Zealand has heard. — J. T. Bay ant. Owaka, August 2, 1902.

* Sir Walter Buller, in his "Manual of Birds of New Zealand," says:— "The little grey warbler utters at short intervals a. trilling note of much sweetness, though of little variety, and Layard compares the note to the creaking, sound of a -wheelbarrow." Now, I have heard this bird in different paris of Otago,-and during the past two summers,, one or.other built . its nest in my garden. He commenced to sing at daylight, using most delightful, rich, flutelike notes. He starts by an introdiiction of three or four distinct notes; he then gives three, four, or five trills on one note, then the same on a still lower note, abruptly stopping on a high note. He rarely sings the whole song through, perhaps once in five times. He is constantly on the move, and if in the midst of his trilling he sees an insect, the consequences are equally disastrous to insect and song. I hear many of these birds during a threemile walk. Mr Layard must have' heard a young bird learning to sing. I have noticed a similar sound, and also much variation in the songs of these birds. As I write <his the rain is falling heavily, and has been falling for 86 hours, enough to damp the ■'spirits of an eagle, but the little grey warbler is outside singing like — a little grey warbler.

-J. T. B