BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 327 



WARBLER, GARDEN. 



Description of Parent Birds. — Length about six 

 inches ; bill fairly long, straight, strong, and dark 

 brown in colour. Irides hazel. Head, neck, back, 

 wings, and tail uniform light brown, slightly tinged 

 with olive ; chin, throat, breast, belly, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts dull brownish-white, dark on the 

 tln-oat and breast, and light on the belly ; legs, 

 toes, and claws purple-brown. 



The female is similar to the male in appearance. 



{Situation and Locality. — Generally a few^ feet 

 from the ground in thorn bushes, briars, brambles, 

 gooseberry bushes, nettles, and peas. Sometimes 

 lower down in coarse grass and taller wild plants. 

 In woods, clumps of trees growing beside streams, 

 shrubberies, thick hedges, orchards, and gardens, 

 sparingly, in suitable localities nearly all over 

 England. It also breeds in one or two parts of 

 Wales, in the southern parts of Scotland, and in 

 different parts of Ireland. 



Materials. — Straws, blades of grass, fibrous roots, 

 sometimes a little w^ool or moss, and lined with 

 horsehair. It is a somewhat flimsy structure. 



Eggs. — Four to six, generally four or five, vary- 

 ing in ground colour from white to greenish-white 

 or yellowish stone-grey, blotched, spotted, and 

 clouded with brown of various shades ; deep olive, 

 with underlying markings of ash-grey. The mark- 

 ings are variously distributed, occasionally being 

 congregated at the larger end. Some specimens 

 are marbled with brown. Size about '11 by -6 in. 

 Often indistinguishable from those of the Blackcap, 

 except by a sight of the parent birds. 



Time. — May and June. 



