GARDEN WARBLER. 



Family TURDID/E. Genus Sylvia. 



Sub-family SYLVIINyE. 



GARDEN WARBLER. 



Sylvia hortensis {Gmelin). 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, May and June. 



British breeding area : The Garden Warbler is 

 generally but locally distributed in all parts of England, 

 with the exception of West Cornwall ; in Wales it is 

 not known to breed except in Pembrokeshire and 

 Breconshire. In Scotland it breeds locally in the 

 southern and central districts, probably as far north as 

 Banffshire. In Ireland it is decidedly rare, but breeds 

 in counties Cork, Tipperary, Fermanagh, and Antrim, 

 and may do so in those of Dublin and Wicklow. 



Breeding habits : The Garden Warbler is a late 

 migrant, not reaching the British Islands before the 

 beginning of May. Its favourite haunts are thickets 

 and underwood in coverts, plantations, and shrubberies. 

 It is also fond of frequenting the wooded banks of 

 streams, and may often be met with in large gardens, 

 orchards, and nurseries. The males arrive a little before 

 the females. As soon as the latter appear the birds 

 begin to pair, and nest-biiilding commences shortly 

 afterwards. The nest is generally placed not many feet 

 above the ground, amongst brambles, briars, or low 

 thorn trees, and frequently in gooseberry and currant 

 bushes, or even amongst nettles or growing peas. It is 

 a flimsy, net-like structure, made of fine dry grass-stalks, 

 amongst which, in the foundation, a flake or two of moss 

 or a few roots are placed, and lined with a little horse- 

 hair. The nest is woven round the surrounding twigs, 

 and is very neatly finished and exquisitely rounded 



