1 666 



THE PERCHING BIRDS 



other. Accordingly, we prefer to follow Dr. Sharpe in including all those birds 

 under one great family, of which the true warblers will constitute a separate sub- 

 family (Sylviince}. Having thus indicated how extremely difficult it is to separate 

 the thrushes and their allies from the true warblers (Sylvia}, it may be mentioned 

 that the latter are generally of small size, and usually of plain-colored plumage. 

 More insectivorous in their habits than the thrushes, and also more migratory in 

 their movements, they usually possess slender bills, adapted to the pursuit of 

 insects. Their wings are variable in size, and the feet slender and furnished with 

 fine toes. The young of the warblers, unlike those of the typical thrushes, do not 

 differ materially from adults in color. This group of birds, in common with the 

 Ruticillince, is of almost universal distribution, but so preponderates in the Eastern 

 Hemisphere, that Mr. Wallace describes it as an Old-World assemblage only 

 meagrely represented in North America. 



The common whitethroat (Sylvia rufa) is one of the most abundant 

 oa of summer birds throughout Europe, arriving in its breeding haunts in 



April, and speedily com- 

 mencing to make its 

 artless nest, composed 

 of dry stems of grass 

 and flowering plants, 

 lined with finer bents 

 and sometimes a little 

 horsehair. The eggs 

 are white, mottled with 

 olive-green specks. The 

 male sings noisily upon 

 the wing, generally 

 starting up from the 

 top of a hawthorn 

 hedge, and then slowly 

 descending, with the 

 tail at an angle to the 

 body. It may fre- 

 quently be seen picking 

 small moths off the 

 blossoms of the gorse, 

 as it flits actively from 

 one plant to another, 

 and utters a harsh 

 croak. The adult male 

 has the upper parts 



grayish brown; the wing coverts and innermost secondaries being edged with chest- 

 nut, the outer tail feathers margined with white, and the lower parts buffy white. 

 The lesser whitethroat (S. curruca] is a scarcer bird than the last, but its pretty 

 song may be heard about the hedgerows and bushes in many parts of Europe. The 



LESSER AND COMMON WHITKTHROAT. 

 (One-half natural size.) 



