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lined with fine fibre and hair. The eggs, from four to five in 
number, are of a yellowish brown, with marks of ash grey, and 
spotted with brown; but I have seen some varieties of a pale 
pinkish colour. It has the habit of slipping off the nest in the 
most quiet manner, and scuttling amongst the herbage like a mouse: 
it reminds me very much of the grasshopper warbler in this respect. 
I have seen the male feed the female when sitting on the nest. 
The length of the male is about six inches ; bill, dark horn colour; 
paler beneath, the edges yellowish grey; iris,dark brown. Head, onthe 
crown, black ; its sides, the neck, on the back, and nape, ash colour ; 
chin, throat, and breast, ash coloured,—but the breast is white on 
the lower part tinged with yellowish grey. Back, of a brownish 
ash colour. The female resembles the male, but her plumage is 
more tinged with brown. Head, on the sides, gray with a greenish 
tinge ; on the crown, reddish brown, reaching further back than in 
the male; nape, grey, with a greenish tinge. Back, yellowish 
brown, approaching to white on the centre, and darker on the sides 
and across the breast. 
GARDEN WARBLER ( Curruca hortensis ). 
The Garden Warbler, or Greater Pettichaps, arrives in our 
district about the 28th of April, a little later than the blackcap, and 
departs about the 26th or 29th of September. It is not so 
generally distributed as the blackcap, but more localised. Its 
retiring manners prevent it from being so well known. When its 
song is heard, it is not given from a commanding perch like the 
blackcap, but from the close cover; and as the cover is in full 
bloom all the time it is with us, it is not so often seen even by 
those who search for it. It prefers woody districts, large gardens, 
groves and orchards, and the outskirts of woods. Insects 
constitute its principal food; and I have seen the bird capture 
them on the wing, although in the season they are not particular, 
but add currants, ripe cherries, and elder-berries to their bill of fare. 
The bird is very sprightly in all its movements, and flits about with 
peculiar gracefulness, I have watched these birds many a time 
