-\ESTI.\G-SE1UES OF I3RIT1SU IIIUDS. ] 55 



ruize and lieather, where, owing to itssliy skulking luibits, it may easily 

 be overlooked. The nest, made of goose-grass and furze-shoots lined 

 with a little wool and moss, is placed among the branches of the thickest 

 furze, and difficult to find. Four or five greenish-white eggs witholive- 

 or reddish-browu markings arc laid in the end of Ai)ril or the beginning 

 of May. Two broods arc reared in the season. 



Hampshire, May. 



Prescnti',1 hi/ Colonel L. H. Irhi/. 



No. 52. WHITETHROAT. (Sylvia cinerea.) 

 The Nettle-creeper, as this bird is also called, is one of our 

 commonest summer visitors, and generally distributed throughout the 

 British Islands from the middle of April till the beginuing of 

 September. Hedgerows, thickets overgrown with brambles, and nettles 

 are its favourite resorts. The nest, which is lightly constructed of fine 

 grass-stems, Avith a lining of bents and horse-hair, is almost invariably 

 })laced low down in straggling brambles oi- nettles. The eggs, 

 generally four or five in number, arc greenish- white or stonc-colonr, 

 blotched with violet-grev and lisht brown. 



Norfolk, May. 

 Presented bij Lord W'uhinyham. 



No. 53. BLACKCAP. (Sylvia atricapilla.) 

 This fine songster is a summer visitor to our shores, arriving about 

 the middle of April and departing southward in September, though 

 occasionally a few birds remain m the British Isles through the winter. 

 It is generally distributed over England and Wales, but scarcer towards 

 the north of Scotland and in Ireland. The food consists of insects, 

 berries of various kinds, and fruit, especially raspberries and 

 currants. The nest, built of dry grasses and lined with horse-hair, is 

 generally placed in a low bush, a few feet from the ground. Four'or 

 five eggs are laid about the middle of j\Iay, and are usually of a light 

 yellowish -brown colour, blotched with darker brown (like those of the 

 Garden- Warbler), but sometimes both ground-colour and markings are 

 of a reddish hue. Two broods are reared in a season. 



Sussex, June. 

 Presented hy Dr. R. BoinUer Sharpe. 



.M 2 



