LESSER WHITETHROAT 491 



breast, and with the head of the same i^reyish brown as the beak, 

 instead of ashy grey, as in the cock. In young birds the general 

 colour of the upper-parts is browner, while the under surface is 

 sandy buff. 



The range of the whitethroat includes all temperate Europe, and 

 extends eastwards into Persia ; in winter these birds visit Africa, and 

 occasionally occur in India, apparently on the autumn-migration. In 

 the south of Europe the species is met with chiefly on migration ; the 

 breeding- range extends to about latitude 65 in Scandinavia, but shows 

 the usual southern trend when the Urals are reached. Arriving in 

 x-\pril, whitethroats spread themselves all over the British Islands, but 

 are rare in the north of Scotland, and only occasional visitors to the 

 Outer Hebrides and the other northern islands. They depart south- 

 wards towards the latter part of September. 



In common with its smaller cousin and some of the other warblers, 

 the whitethroat is locally known as hay-tit, or hay-bird, and also by 

 the name of nettle-creeper. The males often perch on rails or bare 

 boughs, from which they dart after insects in flycatcher-fashion, but the 

 females keep more in covert. In summer these birds feed almost 

 entirely on insects, especially " daddy-longlegs," but they will also eat 

 green peas, and in autumn subsist largely on berries. The nest, which 

 is a slight but deep structure of bents and grass lined with rootlets and 

 hair, is generally placed in bushes or hedges near the ground, or in 

 banks of nettles, but has been found as high as 1 2 feet above the 

 ground. From four to six eggs go to a clutch ; but these vary so 

 much in colouring that description is difficult. Their general tone is, 

 however, olive, due to the prevalence of olive-brown speckling upon a 

 brownish-white ground, but there are also conspicuous underlying spots 

 of violet-grey, generally more abundant at the larger end. 



Lesser Whitethroat ■^ rather smaller bird than the last, the lesser white- 

 (Svlvia eurruea) throat may be distinguished by the absence of chest- 

 nut margins to the wing-feathers, and also by the 

 fact of the first primary quill exceeding the greater wing-coverts in 

 length ; the white under-parts are also tinged on the breast (except in 

 winter) with rose-pink, and the flanks with buff. Hens are slightly 

 smaller and duller than their partners ; and young birds are dis- 

 tinguishable from their female parents by the presence of somewhat 

 conspicuous pale edges to the feathers of the wings. The pearly white 

 eye of the fully adult (two years and after) bird is a conspicuous feature. 

 The general summer-range of the lesser whitethroat is very similar 



