WHITETHROAT 53 



but common, for although I have found numbers of 

 Nightingale's eggs, this is the first instance in which I 

 have obtained the blue variety." — P. F. Bunyard, Ash- 

 ford, Kent {Zoologist, 1891, p. 427). 



Genus SYLVIA, Scopoli. 



WHITETHROAT. 



Sylvia sijlvia (Linnaeus). S.N., i., p. 330 (176G). 

 Meggie, Peggy, and Jolly Whitethroat. 



The Whitethroat is generally distributed over the whole 

 of Kent, but it prefers the large inland heaths, commons, 

 and thickly overgrown copses and small woods, especially 

 those places which are well covered with furze and tangled 

 masses of brambles. In such situations the AVhitethroat 

 may be seen in all his liveliness and activity, darting from 

 time to time up into the air, chattering, and flittering 

 back to the same place. 



The first that was seen at Euckinge was on May 13, 

 1906. It was feeding on the aphides on the undersides of 

 the leaves of a small sycamore close to the window, very 

 early in the morning. On the 25th the first nest was 

 found, containing five eggs ; it was a very light structure, 

 placed in a small low bush. The second nest was found 

 on May 29, and contained five eggs ; this was about a 

 foot from the ground, placed in a very pretty position, 

 in among brambles, primroses, bluebells, tall grasses. 



Mr. M. Hutchinson records in the Zoologist the follow- 

 ing data of the Whitethroat : " On April 19, 1844, I dis- 

 covered the fidgety, saucy, chattering Whitethroat on 

 Shooter's Hill. It was not long before up he flew, making 



