OUO THE GARDEN WARBLER. 



purplish-grey and some darker spots ; some are pink, with 

 shades of darker red ; are about the size of the robin's, f by f 

 inch. The young, like the old birds, have the same hiding 

 nature, and when disturbed, though only half-fledged, will 

 hobble out of their nest and hide. It lives chiefly on larvae and 

 insects, and the smaller fruits, such as rasps and currants. Like 

 the stone chat it flits from bush to bush and tries to screen 

 itself. The male is well-named the blackcap, and is easily 

 known by its distinct black cap or bonnet — the female's being 

 reddish-brown. It is 6J inches long by 9| in extent of wings. 

 It is the best songster of all the warblers, and nearly as easily 

 distinguished by its fine song as by its black cap, for each bird 

 has a song peculiar to itself, as Wordsworth remarks — . 



" The blackbird amid leafy trees, 

 The lark above the hill, 

 Let loose their carols when they please, 



Are quiet when they will ; 

 With Nature never do they wage 

 A foolish strife. " 



Greater Petty Chaps, or Garden Warbler. 



(Motacilla Hortensis.) Linn. (Curruca Hortensis.) Bechst. 



" As songsters of the early year 

 Are ilka day mair sweet to hear, 

 So ilka day to me mair dear 

 And charming is my Philly." — Burns. 



This bird is the same size as the last ; is also a summer 

 migrant, but stays a shorter time, arriving in May and leaving 

 early in September. It has the same habits as the blackcap, 

 and sings almost as well — but more of a whistle, like the 

 blackbird. Montagu says, " It is little inferior to the 

 nightingale. Some of the notes are sweet and soft ; others 

 quick, lively, loud, and piercing — something like the whistle of 

 the blackbird, but in a more hurried cadence, and sings often 

 after sunset." Sweet says, "Its arrival is soon made known by 

 its very loud and long song. It begins very low — like the song 

 of the swallow, but raises it by degrees until it resembles the 

 song of the blackbird ; singing nearly all day and the greater 



