44 LESSER WHITETHROAT. 



Ireland the first and only recorded example was taken at the 

 Tearaght lighthouse on October ist, 1S90. 



In Scandinavia the Lesser Whitethroat breeds up to about 65° 

 N. lat ; while southward it is found in summer over the greater part 

 of temperate Europe. It is, however, rare in the south-west, though 

 I recently saw an individual in the Western Pyrenees, but a few pass 

 the winter to the east of Malaga, and in some years the species is 

 fairly common on migration about Valencia and Murcia. In Italy 

 it is very local ; but eastward it becomes more abundant, and in 

 Transylvania its numbers far exceed those of its relative. Beyond 

 the valley of the Lower Volga the doubtfully distinct Siberian form 

 ^. affinis, replaces it ; in Kashmir, the Himalayas and the north- 

 west of India comes 6". althea ; while the Afghan S. miniiscula, Hume, 

 makes yet a fourth. Our typical bird winters in Northern and 

 Central Africa, Arabia, Palestine and Persia. 



The nest is a shallow structure of dried grasses, lined with hair, 

 and is frequently placed in brambles or small bushes ; a predilection 

 being shown for hazel and thorn-hedges, whence the bird's Lan- 

 cashire name of ' Hazel-Linnet.' The 5-6 eggs, laid in May, are 

 creamy-white, blotched with brown, and with under-spots of grey : 

 measurements "65 by "5 in. The female sits very closely. The song 

 of the male is continued very late into the summer, and has been 

 syllabled as sip, sip, sip, frequently uttered in sultry weather ; the 

 alarm-note is check, check. The food consists of insects and their 

 larvK, and fruit in the season. The autumn departure generally 

 takes place in the latter part of September, but exceptional captures 

 up to November are on record. 



Adult male : crown smoke-grey ; lores and ear-coverts dark 

 brown ; nape, back and tail-coverts brownish-grey ; wing-feathers 

 ash-brown, with paler tips and margins, but without the rufous 

 edgings to the secondaries, which are so conspicuous in the larger 

 species ; outer tail-feathers greyish brown with white outer webs ; 

 the rest of the feathers dark brown ; under parts white, with a faint 

 rosy tinge, fading into buff on the flanks ; bill blackish ; legs, which 

 are short and stout, slate-colour; iris white. Length 5-25 in. ; wing 

 to the tip of the 3rd and longest primary 2-6 in. The female is 

 rather smaller and generally duller in colour. The young are like 

 the female, except that the pale margins of the wing-feathers are 

 more pronounced, and the irides are reddish-brown. 



Sundevall states that this species, the Greater Whitethroat, and 

 the Barred AVarbler, all have a spring moult. Mr. J. Young, who 

 has kept the Lesser Whitethroat for several years, confirms this as 

 regards some of the quill-feathers, but not all. 



