SYLVIIN.E. 



43 



THE LESSER WHITETHROAT. 



Sylvia curruca (Linnaeus). 



The Lesser Whitethroat, as its name implies, is a smaller bird 

 than its congener ; and although it arrives in England about the 

 same time, or a trifle later, its distribution in our islands is decidedly 

 less extensive. Tolerably abundant in the southern, eastern and 

 midland counties, it becomes rarer in the west, and though it nests 

 in Somerset and Devon, it only visits Cornwall on migration. It 

 breeds regularly in Brecon, and its nest has been taken near 

 Cardigan Bay. To Cheshire and Lancashire it is a well-known 

 though not very numerous summer-visitor, and it is generally dis- 

 tributed in Yorkshire ; but it is local in the Lake district ; very rare 

 in Durham ; while, as regards Northumberland, Mr. G. Bolam has 

 recorded two examples in September, i88r, near Berwick-on Tweed. 

 In Scotland Mr. R. Service informs me that it is seldom met with 

 in Kirkcudbrightshire, although better known in the eastern part of 

 Dumfriesshire and down by the Borders, and he has only twice 

 found its nest ; it is said to breed sparingly and locally as far as 

 Stirlingshire ; but to the northern counties and in the outlying 

 islands it is at most a rare visitor. One is stated in the ' Scottish 

 Naturalist ' to have been shot by Mr. G. Sim in Aberdeenshire, on 

 November 4th, 1880, and Mr. Allan Briggs has recently recorded 

 two obtained on North Ronaldshay, Orkneys, in autumn. In 



