66 The Lesser Whitethroat. 



kek, kek : the song is a rapid repetition of one whistled note ; it has been called 

 a trill, but is too staccato to answer that description ; a few lower notes are 

 sometimes added, but even these have a monotonous character. 



The nest is constructed at any time between April and June, but I have 

 found more in May than in eitlier of the other months ; it varies considerabl}' in 

 its height from the ground, being sometimes placed among the upper twigs of a 

 tall hawthorn hedge, sometimes in brambles onl}' a foot or two above the earth ; 

 it is also occasionally found in furze-bushes; but I took most of ni}- nests either 

 from hedges on the outskirts of woods, or in couutr}' lanes, tlic lieight from the 

 ground being about four feet. Mr. Frohawk tells me that the Lesser White- 

 throat, when building in shrubberies, very frequently selects the snow-berrj^ as a 

 site for its nest : he also reminds me of the frequency with which those found 

 by us at various times contained imperfect clutches ; a full clutch being the 

 exception, and two to three eggs the rule. Although the bird itself is very sli}', 

 I have not observed that it makes any special effort to conceal its nest, and 

 many a time when I have found it to contain only one ^%%, and have left it in 

 the hope of subsequently securing it with a full clutch, I have found it torn out 

 by some village clown. 



To take one ^^% from the nest of the Lesser Whitethroat is sufficient to 

 ensure its desertion: even if a similarly coloured small marble is substituted, the 

 only result is that the bird ejects the marble and then lets the empt}- nest alone: 

 I never knew her to lay a second egg after the first had been abstracted. Like 

 the Wren, this little bird will run no risks ; if you interfere with her domestic 

 arrangements, she will, for the time, give up housekeeping. 



The structure of the nest is much firmer, and, to ni}' mind, neater than that 

 of the Common Whitethroat ; a pretty little cup formed of stout bents and root- 

 lets firmly interlaced with the twigs among which it is fixed and interwoven 

 here and there with a little fine wool and spiders' cocoons ; it is lined with fine 

 bents, root fibre and a little horsehair. The eggs vary in number from four to 

 five : when less than four are iucubated, the nest is probably a second one and 

 hurriedly constructed, the first having been tampered with. In colouring, the 

 eggs var}- much less than those of its larger relative ; indeed the difiPerence in 

 ground-colour, is slight, varj-ing from white to cream-colour, the markings diffused 

 olive-brown, with underlying silver-grej^ or pale slate spots and overlj'ing dots 

 and lines of blackish -brown : some specimens have the spots large and boldly 

 defined, especially towards tlie rounded extremity wlicrc tliej- frequent!}' form an 

 irregular zone; sometimes the end of tlic egg enclosed hy this zone is suffused 

 witli dirt}- buff; at other times the spots, though similar]}- disposed are small and 



