Bird Life in a Suburban Parish 85 



The birds are slighter and more elegant in a|)|)earaiice, 

 and not (jnite sueli persistent sknlkers. Any close approach 

 to their nest is nuieh resented : the little birds, with erected 

 crests and excited actions, will follow an intrnder, A'igorously 

 scolding the while with harsh and chiding note. 



The Ciarden-warl)ler in some seasons almost rivals in 

 numbers the Cxreater AMiitethroat, 1898 brinoini)- an unusual 

 number of these l)irds to our neighbourhood. The nest much 

 resembles those of the two former species, but is perhaps a 

 little more shallow, A fa\'om-ite locality is among the bare, 

 leafless stems of bramble, below the thick co^er of green leaves 

 which clothes the outside of the bush, and roofs in, as it were, 

 the space below. The eggs, howcAcr, are much more like 

 those of the Blackcap — in fact, it is sometimes impossible 

 to distinguish them. I have seen it somewhere stated that 

 the Garden-warbler and the Blackcap are never found in 

 equal abundance in the same place. Here, at all events, 

 facts seem to bear out the statement, for the Blackcap 

 is much less conmionly met with than the other. I 

 have found a few nests, on one of which I plioto- 

 graphed the russet-headed hen-bird, and have seen the cock 

 Blackcap take his share of domestic duties. 



From its diminutive size and feeble flight the Goldcrest 

 is not a species one would expect to find in the habit of 

 migrating. It does so, however, in considerable nimibers, 

 and occasionally remarkably large flocks arrive on the eastern 

 coast during autumn, some years being noted as bringing 

 umisual numbers. 



