L10 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
from this country about the same time as the last 
species: it has been shot in England as late as the 
13th of October.* 
The food of the Lesser Whitethroat consists prin- 
cipally of insects, berries and small fruits: it is not, 
however, sufficiently numerous to disturb the equa- 
nimity of the gardener, as the last species occasion- 
ally does. 
Hewitson says the nest is found in situations 
similar to that of the common Whitethroat, and is 
made outwardly of umbelliferous plants, bound to- 
gether with spider’s webs, pieces of hemp, or any 
such materials, and lined with a few roots and the 
flowering heads of fine grass. 
The beak of the Lesser Whitethroat is black; the 
base of the under mandible yellowish brown; inides 
yellowish white; head and neck dullish grey; back, 
scapulars and tail-coverts dull hair-brown, with a 
tinge of olive-green; wing-coverts and tertials hair- 
brown; primaries and secondaries, as well as the 
tail, dusky brown; throat and all the under parts 
white; legs, toes and claws lead-colour. 
As Ihave no egg of the Lesser Whitethroat on 
which I can depend, I have taken the following 
description from Yarrell :—‘‘ Ground colour white, 
sparingly spotted and speckled, principally at the 
larger end, with ash-grey and light brown. 
* The ‘ Zoologist’ for 1866 (Second Series, p. 522). 
