WHITETHROAT — GARDEN WAEBLER. 65 



maining until September, A common wayside bird, the 

 ' Nettlecreeper ^ is rather less shy than its cong-eners, and 

 may generally be seen creeping in and out of the hedge, or 

 fluttering about the top, uttering its rather harsh chattering 

 song, and often mounting in the air to deliver it on the wing. 



THE LESSER WHITETHROAT. 



Sylvia ciirnica. 

 The Lesser Whitethroat is a regular simimer visitor, 

 generally distributed, and locally abundant, arriving about the 

 end of April. It is a very shy bird, and a difficult one to 

 observe, only occasionally leaving the big hedgerows, which 

 are its chosen resort, to flit up among the branches of some 

 spreading oak or other leafy tree. Up and down the hedge- 

 rows you may follow the Lesser Whitethroat for hours as it 

 creeps among the twigs in the very middle of the hedge, 

 pausing every now and then to utter its curious song, often 

 within a few feet of the observer. The sono" consists of a 

 preliminary subdued warble, followed by a succession of high- 

 pitched metallic notes all in the same pitch. The Lesser 

 Whitethroat continues in song until late in summer, and 

 during a sultry evening in July it seems peculiarly happy, 

 the song then being often incessant. 



I 

 THE GARDEN WARBLER. > 



Sylvia salicaria. 

 The Garden Warbler is a fairly numerous and generally 

 distributed summer visitor, seldom arriving before quite the 

 end of April or the beginning of May, when the hedges are 

 usually in full leaf. Then it generally makes its presence 

 known by its sweet rich warbling song, for it is a very shy 

 bird, seldom in the breeding season leaving its favourite 

 haunts — thick hedgerows with plenty of bottom growth and 

 tangled brambles, and the edges of thick woods, spinneys, and 

 extensive shrubberies. In late summer it comes with its con- 

 geners to the kitchen-gardens for fruit. 



