NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 155 
furze and heather, where, owing to its shy skulking habits, it may easily 
be overlooked. The nest, made of goose-grass and furze-shoots lined 
with a little wool and moss, is placed among the branches of the thickest 
furze, and difficult to find. Four or five greenish-white eggs with olive- 
or reddish-brown markings are laid in the end of April or the beginning 
of May. Two broods are reared in the season. 
Hampshire, May. 
Presented by Colonel L. H. Irby. 
No. 52. WHITETHROAT. (Sylvia cinerea.) 
The Nettle-creeper, as this bird is also called, is one of our 
commonest summer visitors, and generally distributed throughout the 
British Islands from the middle of April till the beginning of 
September. Hedgerows, thickets overgrewn with brambles, and nettles 
are its favourite resorts. The nest, which is lightly constructed of fine 
grass-stems, with a lining of bents and horse-hair, is almost invariably 
placed low down in straggling brambles or nettles. The eggs, 
generally four or five in number, are greenish-white or stone-colour, 
blotched with violet-grey and light brown. 
Norfolk, May. 
Presented by Lord Walsingham. 
No. 53. BLACKCAP. (Sylvia atricapilla.) 
This fine songster is a summer visitor to our shores, arriving about 
the middle of April and departing southward in September, though 
occasionally a few birds remain in the British Isles through the winter. 
It is generally distributed over England and Wales, but scarcer towards 
the north of Scotland and in Ireland. The food consists of insects, 
berries of various kinds, and fruit, especially raspberries and 
currants. The nest, built of dry grasses and lined with horse-hair, is 
generally placed in a low bush, a few feet from the ground. Four or 
five eggs are laid about the middle of May, and are usually of a light 
yellowish-brown colour, blotched with darker brown (like those of the 
Garden-Warbler), but sometimes both ground-colour and markings are 
of a reddish hue. Two broods are reared in a season. 
Sussex, June. 
Presented by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe. 
