58 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
CHAPTER, Ty. 
WARBLERS. 
WARBLERS—The Whitethroat—Its occasional depredations— 
The gardener and the Whitethroat—Food of the bird— 
Its nest and eggs—The Chiffchaff—Its services to man— 
The Willow Warbler —A well-concealed nest—The Wood 
Warbler—Its fondness for ‘‘ leaf-rollers ”—The Nightingale 
—Prevost Paradol’s testimony—The Nightingale as a rob- 
ber—Song of the bird— Zot homines, tot sententie—Shake- 
speare as an ornithologist—The Robin—The influence of 
superstition—A just conclusion drawn from false premises 
—Voracity of the bird—Prévost-Paradol again—The Robin 
in the garden-—A sociable bird—Earthworms and the Robin 
—Nest of the bird—Uncalled-for jealousy and its results. 
—— 
SMALL, soberly coloured, and timid to a degree, the 
Whitethroat, although plentiful enough, is known 
only to those who take a special interest in the 
feathered race, or who are brought into contact with 
the bird by the nature of their avocation. And by 
the latter of these, unfortunately, the whitethroat is 
by no means appreciated at its true value. For it 
has a way of helping itself to a little fruit in summer 
and autumn, and thereby incurs the wrath and ven- 
geance of the gardener, who never troubles to inquire 
whether there is a better side to the bird’s character, 
but at once sets himself to destroy it whenever he 
can find an opportunity of doing so. He does not 
