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SYLVIAD^. 



curious antics and singing all the while. Its short flight 

 completed, it descends to the same or an adjoining twig ; 

 and so it seems to spend its days. Prom its habit of 

 creeping through the lower parts of hedges, it has received 

 the popular name of " ^N'ettle-creeper." From the grey- 

 tone of its plumage, it is in some districts of "France 

 called ^'Grisettej' and in others, from its continuous song, 



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THK WHlTETHKOAf. 



'' Bahillarde," names, however, which are popularly applied 

 without distinction to this species and the next. While 

 singing it keeps the feathers of its head erected, resembling 

 in this respect the Blackcap and several of the other 

 warblers. Though not naturally a nocturnal musician, it 

 does not, like most other birds, when disturbed at night, 

 quietly steal away to another place of shelter, but bursts 

 into repeated snatches of song, into which there seems to 



