296 
Sp. 38. 
Mr. Jenyns on the Ornithology of Cambridgeshire. 
much the same as those of the common sort, being generally 
in thick hedges and close copses of underwood: in these situations 
however they were oftener heard than seen, as they always sculked 
about in the most concealed spots, and never rose into the air 
with that peculiarity of gesture which I have attempted to de- 
scribe above. Their song too was very different, being much 
superior to that of the common sort, more melodious and varied 
in its notes, though so soft and inward as to be scarcely noticed 
unless near: moreover, this was never exerted on wing. That 
these birds are really distinct from the others, I will not at 
present presume to decide, as I have not hitherto had an oppor- 
tunity of comparing specimens of each sort together, which would 
afford the only means of detecting a specifie difference if such 
exist between them. I find myself however somewhat corroborated 
in my suspicions, by the following observation of Montagu. In 
his Ornithological Dictionary, (Art. Whitethroat) he mentions 
having more than once killed a bird whose plumage differed in 
some respects from that of the common Whitethroat, and in one 
instance from off the nest, which contained four eggs almost 
entirely white, not nearly so much speckled with brown and ash- 
colour as those of this bird generally are: and whose weight was 
also greater. He confesses himself to have been much puzzled 
on this occasion, and coneludes by hinting at the possibility of 
its being proved hereafter that there are two distinct species. 
S. Curruca, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. p. 209. 
Lesser WuiretHroat.—tThis bird, the Lesser Whitethroat of 
Latham and Montagu, corresponds so exactly in every particular 
with the Sylvia Curruca of Temminck, that I have accordingly 
referred it to that species, though it is very doubtful whether it 
be the Motacilla Curruca of Linneus. In this country it does 
not appear to have been generally noticed, nor at all known till 
Latham first. described it in the Supplement to his Synopsis, 
which circumstance is probably owing to its being of very local 
occurrence, and almost entirely confined to the eastern parts of 
the kingdom. In Cambridgeshire, it is far from uncommon, 
