50 GARDEN-VVARHLER. 



leaves Europe by the middle of October, and passing through Asia 

 Minor and Northern Africa, it winters in the oases of the Sahara, 

 pushing on to Damaraland, the Transvaal and Cape Colony. East- 

 ward its range appears to be bounded by the Caspian, and the Ural 

 Mountains; possibly it may extend as far as Omsk, on the Irtisch, 

 in Siberia. 



The nest, lightly though firmly constructed of dry bents and fine 

 roots, with only a slight lining of hair, is generally placed in low 

 brambles and thorn-bushes; sometimes among peas or in goose- 

 berry-bushes in a gaiden. The eggs, 4-5, are white, marbled 

 and blotched with shades of buflish-brown ; a good deal like one 

 variety of those of the Blackcap, but never, like the other phase of 

 the latter, suffused with a reddish tint : they are also on the 

 average a trifle larger and the shell is less glossy : medium measure- 

 ments "75 by "6 in. Only one brood is, as a rule, reared in the 

 season. The nestlings are fed largely on insects, particularly on the 

 caterpillar of the white cabbage-butterfly ; but later, peas, fruit of 

 all kinds and berries, are largely consumed. From its partiality to 

 figs it has acquired its Italian name of Beccafico, which is however 

 a comprehensive term for many other small species. Its song is 

 continuous and mellow, though softer and less rich than that of the 

 Blackcap ; the call-note being a harsh teck, resembling the sound 

 made by knocking two small pebbles- together. In its habits the 

 Garden-Warbler is rather more shy and skulking than most of its 

 congeners ; and it appears to be intolerant of rivalry, for it is 

 generally scarce in those districts where the Blackcap abounds, and 

 common where that bird is scarce, as for instance, in Lincolnshire. 



Adult male in May : entire upper parts olive-brown, with a paler 

 eye-streak ; quill-feathers darker brown with narrow whitish tips and 

 margins ; under parts mostly buffish-white, purer in the centre of the 

 belly, and darker on the flanks ; bill brown,' paler at the base ; legs 

 and feet lead-colour with yellowish soles to the latter ; irides hazel ; 

 eyelids white. Length 5-5 in.; wing to the tip of the 3rd and 

 longest primary 3 in. The female is slightly paler than the male. 

 The young are rather more greenish-olive than the adults, and have 

 well-defined pale margins to the secondaries. 



