BIRDS BROWN ABOVE AND WHITE BELOW. 53 



This bird is not so much the Lesser as tlie 

 rarer Whitethroat, the difference between it and the 

 Common Whitethroat in point of size being inappre- 

 ciable, but in rano-e and numbers great. Arriving 

 during April, it nests in brambles, or sometimes in the 

 higher hedgerows. The nesting-site is always wdthin 

 easy distance of trees, for the Lesser Whitethroat is 

 as a rule a higher percher than the common species. 

 In form the two species are practically indistinguish- 

 able. Thej^ differ, however, in colour, song, and 

 habits. The Lesser Whitethroat is of a gray tone in 

 the upper parts, differing therein notably from the 

 duller ash-gray head, ruddy-brown back, and warm 

 chestnut in the wings of the Common Whitethroat. 

 The song of the latter is a hurried gabbling of many 

 nates ; that of the Lesser Whitethroat opens with 

 a few subdued undertones, then bursts out in a 

 high-pitched note, repeated several times without 

 variation. This song is generally given from a 

 tree. Both birds have pure-white throats, and a 

 similar habit of puffing them out very fully when 

 singing. 



WOOD-WREN — 5J inches ; yellowish-green above ; pro- 

 minent yellow eyebrow ; yellowish-white below. Also 

 a singer in the high trees, but the song opens with a 

 few clearly warbled notes, and runs up into a close, 

 shivering trill. It has also a detached note, ' Ting ! ting ! 

 ting ! ' repeated several times in succession in a measured 

 manner. 



GARDEN-WARBLER.— Plate 26. Length, 5| 

 inches. Upper parts olive-brown, with pale streak 

 over eye ; wings and tail darker ; under parts grayish- 



