aoe TURDIDAE 517 
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Cittocinela haunts thick woods, and deposits four oily-green eg¢ 
with brown and purplish spots and dashes, on a bed of leaves and 
grass in holes in trees; the unsuspicious Sialia utilizes cavities 
in stumps or buildings, the nest and its contents resembling 
those of a Redstart. The breeding habits of the Hedge-Sparrow 
need no description, and those of the Alpine Accentor differ little, 
except that rocky sites are chosen. 
In the above section the number of eggs varies from four to 
seven. The flight is feeble as compared with that of Thrushes, 
most species feeding chiefly upon the ground and being more insect- 
ivorous, though Redstarts and Chats will take insects on the wing. 
The habits of the active Sylviinae are much more uniform ; they 
seldom fly far, except on migration, and a few flit about like Wrens; 
while Amytis, Stipiturus, Sphenura, and some species of Aedon 
run, or hop among the herbage, with upturned tail. They frequent 
trees, bushes, long grass or reeds, seldom flocking as does Regulus, 
and live on insects and their larvae, small molluses and fruit, the 
first-named being either caught in the air or sought upon the 
leaves and branches. The song is usually clear and sweet, though 
often plaintive, metallic, or whistling; the Willow- and Wood- 
Warblers (Phylloscopus) trill: the Black-cap and Garden-Warblers 
(Sylvia) have beautiful songs, as well as grating alarm notes; the 
Cataract-bird (Origma) runs along rocky water-courses emitting 
shrill cries; the Reed- and Sedge-Warblers (Acrocephalus), the 
skulking Ce¢tia,and other marsh- and grass-frequenting forms,utter 
more or less jarring sounds, generally from some bush, whence they 
quickly drop to cover; while the Grasshopper- Warblers (Locustella) 
have a peculiar cricket-like note. 
The nest may be a thin or fairly substantial cup of grasses, 
bed-straw (Galiwm) and the like, occasionally lined with hair, and 
placed in bushes or rank herbage, as in the Black-cap, Garden- 
Warbler and White-throats (Sy/via) ; or a firmer structure, includ- 
ing wool, moss, feathers, reed-flowers, or even lichens, built on 
the ground, in shrubs, in sedge, or between reed-stems, as is the 
ease in Locustella, Acrocephalus, Aedon, and Hypolais.  Phyllo- 
scopus, as well as some African and many Indian and Australian 
members of the Sub-family, fashion a round ball of grass and a little 
moss, lined with finer grasses, hair, down, or feathers, and generally 
place it close to the earth; Legu/us hangs a cup of moss and spiders’ 
webs, bedded with feathers, below the end of a conifer or other 
