WHITETHROAT. 1 57 



and full, mellow as those of the Garden-Warbler, but the song 

 tails off into a rather harsh warble, generally with an abrupt 

 finish. When in July the moult begins, the song is hushed, 

 but not infrequently it is resumed in August, and early in 

 September most of the birds depart. Until late in October 

 migrants are passing along the coasts. 



Even before the nest is built the birds greet an intruder with 

 a peculiar scolding note, a harsh churr, but when the nest is 

 threatened they flutter round with sharp ticking cries. If 

 young are in the nest a bird will shuffle near the ground, 

 feigning lameness, but when eggs are still unhatched the 

 sitting bird slips silently away, threading her course through 

 the dense herbage. The food during spring and summer 

 chiefly consists of insects, large numbers of dipterous flies 

 being captured, but in late summer and autumn small berries 

 and soft fruit are added ; elder-berries are favoured, and in 

 gardens raspberries and currants are attacked, the slender 

 robber passing through small-meshed nets with ease. 



The nest (Plate 69) is built in a hedgerow, bramble clump, 

 low-growing herbage, a thick bush or the stocks of cut osiers, 

 and is seldom many inches above the ground. Grass and 

 roots are the usual nesting material, and the deep cup is lined 

 with hair, but some nests are made entirely of rootlets and 

 fibre. Four to six eggs are laid late in May, and though only 

 one brood is usual, late nests may be found in July. Greenish 

 white is the usual ground colour of the grey-speckled egg 

 (Plate 65), but white or brown grounds and red spots and 

 blotches are not uncommon. 



The general colour of the male in spring is greyish brown, 

 greyest on the head and tail-coverts ; the wings are a warm 

 brown. The outer feathers of the sepia tail are margined with 

 white. The chin and throat are conspicuously white, but the 

 remainder of the under parts are white tinged with brown and 

 with vinaceous on the breast. The bill is dark brown, the legs 



