WHITETHROAT 



COMMON WHITETHROAT MUGGY NETTLE-CREEPER. 



PLATE CXXIV. 



Sylvia cinerea, .... PENNANT. JENYNS. 



Motadlla sylvia, .... MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



Curruca sylvia, . . . FLEMING. 



Curruca cinerea, . . . GOULD. 



THE nest of this common visitor is loosely compacted. 

 It is placed near the ground, or not more than two 

 or three feet above it, in a low hedge, or sometimes in 

 a bramble, furze, sloe, wild rose, or other bush, as also 

 frequently among nettles or other tall weeds or herbaceous 

 plants on the ground, or beside a bank; Mr. Jesse mentions 

 one which built in a vine close to a window. It is com- 

 posed chiefly of dried stalks of grasses, though other plants 

 are occasionally used, and lined with a good deal of hair of 

 various kinds, with which it is often, though not always, 

 thickly woven on the inside, giving it accordingly more or 

 less consistency. The same situation is frequently resorted 

 to year after year. A trifling disturbance will cause the 

 owner to desert before the eggs are laid, but the reverse 

 js the case afterwards. Not much care is taken in its con- 

 cealment. The young quit the nest early, even before 

 they are fully able to fly, if alarmed for their safety. Two 

 broods are reared in the season ; in the south of Scotland, 



