108 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
if its good fortune has thrown its temporary home 
near a garden, it brings its whole brood to commit 
depredations, and to indulge in stolen fruit. The 
gardener should, however, remember to set off 
against this the number of fruit- and bud-destroying 
insects and caterpillars it eats; for the food of the 
Whitethroat consists not only of fruit and berries, 
but of insects and caterpillars, particularly the white 
caterpillar. The stomach of one which I shot ina 
barley-field in July was perfectly crammed with the 
remains of various insects, especially the legs and 
wings and hard cases. Moreover, the young while 
in the nest are fed entirely upon insects. 
Yarrell says the Whitethroat makes its appearance 
in this country about the third week in April, which 
agrees exactly with my own observations; for my 
notes of the arrival of this bird for the last four 
years vary very little, being the 22nd, 19th, 23rd 
and 20th of April—very often, as I before remarked, 
on the same day as the Sedge Warbler. 
The nest of the Whitethroat is placed in low 
bushes, shrubs, brambles and thick hedges, and 
occasionally, according to Hewitson, in a bunch of 
nettles: it is very thin, and made of stalks, grass 
and hair, woven strongly together. 
In plumage the Whitethroat is rather a handsome 
bird. The beak is brown; irides hazel; head, ear- 
coverts and upper part of the nape bluish grey; 
back scapulars and tail-coverts brown; wing-coverts 
