THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 15 



bred near Exeter in 1872. At Torquay a bird of 

 this species was heard singing in April, 1882, and it 

 visits Sidmoiith occasionally, as in May 1884 (A. L. 

 Iline-IIaycock). Two were shot at Thurlestone 

 Sands in the spring of 1888, and Ihavc two examples 

 in my collection, killed near Plymouth, A Niglit- 

 ingale was heard at Barnstaple, in 1887, and others 

 at Shute Woods and Gittisham in May, 1889. Mr. 

 Rawson says he first heard of the Nightingale near 

 Ashburton, in Mid-Devon, in 1 887, when a pair of 

 these birds took up their abode in a coppice near 

 the house of a friend. He went down to satisfv 

 himself the following year, and found two pairs had 

 established themselves in the same coppice. In 1889 

 two pairs nested in the old locality, and a third pair 

 nested close by^ so that the birds are apparently 

 increasing, and likely to form a permanent settle- 

 ment. 



Subfamily Sylviiua3. 



WHITETHROxlT.— ^S'///tvV/ cinerca, (Bechst). 

 An abundant summer visitant, frequenting our 

 shady lanes and hedgerows, and often pouring forth 

 its fussy song upon the wing. In Devonshire, as 

 elsewhere, it is often called the "Nettle -Creeper," 

 from its partiality for fastening its nest to the stems 

 of that plant. 



LESSER AVHITETHROAT.— .^///r/V^ currwa, (Linn). 

 A SUMMER visitant, but rare. It has been obtained 

 near Plymouth, but lias not as yet been found 

 breeding in the county. 



