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LESSER WHITETHROAT. 413 
throat; and is often made of coarser materials. It is usually made of fine 
dry grass-stalks, amongst which the twigs that support it are artfully 
interwoven. It is generally bound together with spider’s webs or the 
cocoons of caterpillars, and lined with a few fibrous rootlets and some- 
times a little horsehair. The bird is very easily driven from its uncom- 
pleted nest, and, if frequently disturbed, will soon forsake it. The eggs 
of the Lesser Whitethroat are four or five in number, and present in 
their variations two very distinct types. The first type, and perhaps the 
commonest, is pure white or pale creamy white in ground-colour, spotted 
and blotched with rich greenish brown, and with underlying shell-markings 
of violet-grey. The second type has the ground pale buff or stone-colour, 
and the markings are not so bold and deep in colour. The markings are 
confined for the most part to the large end of the egg, often forming a 
zone, sometimes an irregular circular patch. Many of the eggs are streaked 
with very deep brown; and usually most of the large spots are paler round 
the edge than in the centre ; and on all eggs the large spots are inter- 
mingled with finer markings of pale yellowish brown. They measure from 
‘78 to ‘6 inch in length, and from ‘55 to ‘5 inch in breadth. 
The bird is a very close sitter. When the nest is approached the female 
remains silent and motionless on her eggs until almost touched by the hand. 
The male bird also generally soon appears upon the scene, and, in com- 
pany with his mate, hops anxiously from twig to twig, both uttering their 
harsh and monotonous notes. The more frequently the nest is visited the 
more wary the birds become; and Naumann states that when the bird is 
frightened off the nest it flutters about in the open to attract attention. 
The Lesser Whitethroat leaves this country for the south during the last 
half of September ; specimens have been obtained as late as the middle of 
October ; and in the month of November last year an example was caught 
at Brighton by Mr. Swaysland. 
In spring plumage the male Lesser Whitethroat has the general colour 
of the upper parts pale slate-grey, more or less suffused with brown on the 
back, lores, and ear-coverts. The eye-stripe is almost obsolete. The inner- 
most secondaries have paler edges ; the wings and tail are brown, the latter 
broadly tipped with white on the outside feathers. The underparts are white 
on the chin, throat, the centre of the belly, and the under tail-coverts, shading 
into very pale brown on the breast and flanks. The axillaries and under 
wing-coverts are white. Bill dark bluish grey, the under mandible pale 
at the base; legs, feet, and claws bluish grey; irides light brown. The 
female scarcely differs from the male, but has not even the rudiments of an 
eye-stripe. After the autumn moult the breast and flanks are somewhat 
more suffused with brown. Birds of the year have the upper parts still 
more suffused with brown, and the pale brown of the underparts extends 
to the under tail-coverts. The bill and legs are also somewhat paler, 
