CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 26 



attempt to cross in the face of a gale, but that they 

 will occasionally make a mistake in the weather I 

 have good proof, as I have picked up several (particu- 

 larly of this species) floating dead on the water, a few 

 miles off the south coast. 



They are remarkably neat and handsome birds 

 when they first arrive, but the cares of a family, 

 together with the toil of providing for their wants, 

 soon takes the gloss off their coats, and by the end of 

 the summer they genera.lly have a most ragged and 

 disreputable appearance. 



The specimens in the case were obtained in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of Brighton during the 

 summer of 1870. The old birds are not the parents 

 of the 3^oung, being shot earlier in the season. 



LESSER WHITETHROAT. 



Case 34. 



The Lesser Whitethroat is by no means so abundant 

 as the Common. I have, however, noticed it in con- 

 siderable numbers in the grass country about Harrow- 

 on-the-Hill, in Middlesex. On the south coast it 

 shows itself most commonly early in the autumn : it is 

 then on the point of leaving us for the winter. 



The nest of this species is a particularly light and 

 finely-interwoven structure, being just sufficiently 

 strong to carry the weight of the young brood, and at 

 the same time so slightl}'' built as almost to give the 

 impression of being old and deserted. 



The specimens in the case were taken in a clap-net 

 close to Brighton, in August, 1869. 



