Bird Life in a Suburban Parish 81 



Tlie nest is renlly a wonderful eoiistruetioii of dead oak- 

 lca\'es a most intraetal)le l)iiildin<)-iiiaterial, one would tliink. 

 The \ery deep hollow is lined Mith hair. In sueli a setting 

 the oli^e-brown eggs have a uni(jue appearanee — in faet, neither 

 nest nor eggs ean possibly be mistaken or eonfounded with 

 those of any other British bird. It is invariably plaeed on 

 the ground, and whether in a diteh at the foot of some sapling, 

 or amid the stalks of a dense bed of nettles, it is always well 

 eoneealed, and only found after a careful search. 



Their song, about which so much has been written in prose 

 and \erse, is matchless in its purity and quality. In passionate 

 intensity it is unri\alled, and its characteristics are so unmis- 

 takable that once heard it can never again be mistaken. It 

 ceases after the young are hatched, after wliich the croaking 

 note is the only sound uttered. 



The most common of all the A\ arblers, and the one 

 which has the widest distribution, is the (Treater A\"hite- 

 throat. From its partiality to nettle-beds it is often known 

 as the " Xettle-creeper," and in some parts as the " Hay- 

 bird " or '• Hay-chat." It is an unobtrusive little bird both 

 in appearance and habits, and one not often seen in the 

 open, preferring, as it does, the shelter of thick hedges and 

 bushes. Here it creeps about all day, finding abundance 

 of food in the minute caterpillars and other insects so 

 numerous during the sunmier. So persistently shy and 

 skulking is it that for some years I tried in ^ain to 

 obtain a ])hotograph : every attempt, however patient, always 

 resulted in failure. But eventually a pair was found nesting 



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