36 OUR FAVOURITE SONG BIRDS 



whilst the inside is moderately deep and beautifully 

 rounded. The eggs are from four to six in number, 

 and are white, or white tinged with buff or green, 

 in ground-colour, blotched, spotted and freckled with 

 olive-brown, dark brown, and buffish-brown, with a 

 few underlying splashes of paler brown and grey. 

 The pink variety, so familiar in the eggs of the 

 Blackcap, does not appear to occur in this species, 

 although we should remark that a single ^'g^ in 

 the British Museum, taken by Gould, is ascribed 

 \<r the Garden Warbler. Personally we doubt its 

 authenticity. If disturbed from the nest the parent 

 bird (which is a somewhat close sitter) glides very 

 quietly from the place, and threads its way like a 

 shadow through the surrounding vegetation. Harsh 

 tecks of defiance or alarm will soon generally greet 

 the observer, if he persists in staying in the vicinity. 

 We are of the opinion that but one brood is reared 

 in the year. If the first nest and eggs however 

 come to grief a new one will be made and another 

 set of eggs produced — a fact which may often 

 explain the late nests of this bird which are some- 

 times found, and generally attributed to a second 

 brood. The food of the Garden Warbler is princi- 

 pally composed of insects and their larvae ; but to 

 this fare must be added soft fruits of various kinds, 

 together with the berries of the elder, ivy, and 

 bramble. The young, we believe, are principally 

 reared upon larvae of insects. The autumn migra- 



