730 APPENDIX. 



is here and there intermixed with the coverings of spiders' eggs. 

 In its structure it is not unlike the one which Mr Selby found 

 in Suifolk, and contained five eggs." 



The nest and an egg having been sent to me, I may here de- 

 scribe them. Although more compact than that of the White- 

 throat, as observed by Mr Weir, the nest is still but loosely 

 constructed. It is bulky, for the size of the bird, formed exter- 

 nally of soft but coarse straws and blades of grass, with a con- 

 siderable number of threads and tufts of a fine greyish-white 

 downy substance, several cotton threads, some of which have 

 been in cloth, and a few tufts of down, loosely interwoven. 

 Within this outer layer the grasses are finer, chiefly of Agrostis, 

 and the inner layer is formed of fine grasses, delicate fibrous 

 roots, a considerable quantity of hypna and other mosses, inter- 

 mixed with fine fibres and hairs. Two or three stalks of a 

 Galium, which appears to be the palustre and a few stems of 

 Stellaria appear in the outer layer. The external diameter is 

 four inches and a half, the internal two and a half, and the 

 depth of the interior an inch and nine-twelfths. The egg is 

 broadly oval, but rather pointed, greyish- white, faintly mark- 

 ed all over with pale greyish-brown, and having a zone of 

 stronger and larger purplish-grey spots at the larger end ; its 

 length eight-twelfths, its breadth six-twelfths. 



"On Monday morning, the 17th of June," Mr Weir continues, 

 " when walking in my shrubbery, about eighty yards from the 

 nest, I found a portion of the shell of one of the eggs of this bird. 

 As I had on the preceding day caught a Magpie in a trap, in the 

 immediate neighbourhood, I ran to the spot in a state of alarm, 

 thinking that the nest had been pillaged by some^ bird of prey. I 

 was, however, agreeably disappointed, and discovered in the nest 

 a newly-hatched young bird. The shell had been instinctively 

 taken away by the mother, in order to prevent the discovery of 

 the place of her retreat. The male occasionally sang amongst 

 the shrubs and trees, at the outside of the garden. The song 

 was not so loud as that of the Larger Whitethroat, and I never 

 observed him utter it on the wing. When in a state of alarm 

 he set up a peculiar shrill note which I had never before heard. 

 In his habits he was so uncommonly shy and retired that I 



