80 Baby Birds at Home 



spring it resorts to the most secluded hedge- 

 rows, old lanes, and thickets where it may 

 be seen by the quiet observer hopping about 

 from twig to twig carefully examining the 

 under side of leaf after leaf, in quick suc- 

 cession for insects. If it happens to catch 

 sight of you it will at once retire, and 

 most likely scold you for intruding upon its 

 privacy. 



It is not a very accomplished musician, 

 but during sultry weather practises its notes 

 so persistently that they become monotonous 

 to some listeners. 



The nest is generally built in a position 

 higher than that chosen by the Common 

 Whitethroat, but it is not so deep inside. It 

 is made of dead grass stems and cobwebs, 

 lined with horsehair or fine rootlets. 



The four or five eggs are white or light 

 creamy white in colour, slightly tinged with 

 green, and spotted with ash grey and 

 greenish brown. 



The chicks are very shy, and will hop out 

 of the nest and make their way through the 

 bramble or blackthorn bush, in which they 

 have been reared, even before they are able 

 to fly. 



