286 SYLVIAD.E. 



songster, the Garden Warbler ranks next to tlie Blackcap ; 

 and a good judge of tlie comparative value of the songs of 

 our birds has described that of the Garden Warbler as a 

 continued strain of considerable modulation, sometimes last- 

 ing for half an hour at a time without a pause. The song is 

 wild, rapid, and irregular in time and tone ; but the rich 

 depth is wonderful for so small a throat, approaching in deep 

 mellowness even to that of the Blackbird. Bechstein calls 

 its voice flute-like. 



The Garden Warbler seldom comes to this country in the 

 spring till towards the end of April or the beginning of May. 

 Mr. Selby remarks that it is rai'ely seen till the elm and the 

 oak are bursting into leaf: the males arrive before the fe- 

 males. They frequent thick hedges, shrubberies and gar- 

 dens, feeding on insects, peas, various fruits, — according to 

 the notes of the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert,* cherries 

 in particular, and some berries. Their nest is placed in a 

 low bush, or among rank herbage. T have found it hid in 

 a row of peas and pea-sticks in a garden, and once among 

 some tares in an open field. Mr, Jesse mentions an instance 

 under his own observation of a Garden Warbler building its 

 nest three times in succession among some ivy growing 

 against a wall ; the materials, consisting of goose-grass, bents, 

 with a little wool and moss, lined with fine fibrous roots and 

 a few hairs, are but loosely put together : the eggs are four 

 or five in number, of a greenish white, spotted and streaked 

 with ash green and light brown ; the length nine lines, by 

 six lines and a half in breadth. The young are said to re- 

 main in the nest till they are well grown and feathered. 



This species was first made known to Dr. Latham, as a 

 British Bird, by Sir Ashton Lever, who observed and ob- 

 tained specimens in Lancashire, which he sent to Dr. La- 

 tham, then residing at Dartford. Since that period it has 



* In two editions of White's Natural History of Selborne. 



