162 
ago. The Whitethroat is one of the best known, most numerous, 
and most generally distributed of all our warblers. It arrives with 
us at the same time as the sedge warbler, and departs about the 
26th of September. Who has not observed the Whitethroat, in 
walking down some of our old-fashioned lonnings, sitting on the 
top branch of some hawthorn or bramble bush, and swaying him- 
self too and fro? Who has not heard his chattering call-note of 
alarm, and seen him flying from spray to spray, singing all the 
time, with the feathers on the top of his head all raised up? It is 
a lively, animated bird, always in action; and though its song is 
hurried and garrulous, its notes are very agreeable. It rises from 
the twig on which it was perched, and performs a sort of undulating 
dance, on quivering wings, in the air, returning at the close of its 
song to its former resting place. According to Mr. Sweet, the song 
of this warbler differs much in quality in different individuals ; and 
with respect to this bird, he says :—“It is one of the most 
delightful and pleasing birds that can be imagined. If kept in a 
large cage with other birds, it is full of antics, flying and frisking 
about, and erecting its crest, singing all the time, so that nothing 
can be more amusing. It is quite as hardy as the blackcap, and 
if a good one be procured, it is little inferior in song, but in this 
they vary considerably, the wild ones, as well as those in a cage. 
I have one now in my possession, one that I have had about 
eleven years, in good health, and singing as well as ever; and 
certainly no song need be louder, sweeter, or more varied. It is 
of the same temper as the nightingale, never suffering itself to be 
outdone. It will, indeed, sing for hours together against the 
nightingale: when the nightingale raises its voice, it does the same, 
and tries its utmost to get above it. Sometimes in the midst of its 
song it will run up to the nightingale, and stretch out its neck as if 
in defiance, staring it in the face; if the nightingale attempts to 
peck it away, it is in an instant flying round the aviary, singing all 
the time.” The food of this bird consists of insects, aphides, 
caterpillars, &c.; also currants, cherries, and elder-berries. The 
nest is generally placed in some low bush, or among brambles or 
brushwood, and sometimes among nettles, and from this circum- 
