WHITE-THROATED WARBLER. 355 



neighbourhood of our homestead. They frequently enter our 

 garden in search of food. They delight to mob cats, never 

 ceasing their alarm note till their foe retires. The peasant 

 boys in this part of East Lothian imagine that this bird is 

 mocking or laughing at them, as it tumbles over the hedge and 

 bushes in the lane, and therefore they persecute it at all times, 

 even more virulently than they do sparrows. AVhen the cur- 

 rants, rasps, and gooseberries are ripe, the White-throats flock 

 to our garden, and commit great havoc among these fruits. 

 The last bird of this species that I saw was singing gaily in a 

 sloe thicket at the foot of the Lammermoors, from which I had 

 just descended after a very long excursion, on the evening of 

 the 10th of September. The provincial names of the White- 

 throat are Whishey, Whishey-whey-beard, and Whattie."" 



The activity, liveliness, and petulance of the White-throat, 

 render it an amusing object of observation. If you happen to 

 approach its nest, it comes up scolding vehemently with a 

 churring sort of voice, and flits about until you leave the place, 

 attempting by short flights to induce you to pursue it, when it 

 flies along the hedge before you. Its song is often heard very 

 late at night, and is among the earliest that comes on the ear 

 in the fine summer mornings. If you be walking along a 

 hedge in the early twilight, the little creature is sure to come 

 up, announcing its presence by its song, and flitting in advance 

 for perhaps a long way. One morning in July 1885, when 

 approaching Edinburgh after walking all night from Glasgow, 

 I encountered several White-throats in this manner, some of 

 which accompanied or preceded me several hundred yards, al- 

 though I could not see one of them. 



Its food consists of insects and larvse of various kinds, for 

 which it searches among the shrubs and herbaceous plants in 

 their vicinity, occasionally darting into the air after its prey. 

 I have never met with it on open ground, nor have I found 

 seeds in the stomachs of any that I have opened. But it often 

 in gardens feeds on currants, rasps, and other fruits. The 

 gizzard usually contains a considerable quantity of sand or par- 

 ticles of quartz, as is usual in insectivorous birds. 



Its nest is usually placed among brambles or briars, or among 



