91 



WHITETHROAT. 



COMMON WHITETHROAT. MUGGY. KETTLE-CREEPER. 



PLATE CXilV. 



Sylvia cinerea, PENNANT. JENYNS. 



Motacilla sylvia, MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



Curruca sylvia, FLEMING. 



Ourruca cinerea, GOULD. 



THE nest, thin in width and loosely compacted, though still elastic, 

 and not flimsy, is placed near the ground, 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 for the 

 most part a 'straw-built shed/ composed chiefly of dried stalks of grasses, 

 though other plants are occasionally used, and lined with finer portions 

 of the same, and 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 it before the eggs are laid, but the reverse is the case afterwards': 

 much care is not taken in its concealment. The young quit the nest 

 early, even before they are fully able to fly, if alarmed for their safety. 

 Two broods, and not uncommonly three, are reared in the season; in 

 the south of Scotland, however, the first nest is seldom completed 

 before the end of May. The bird has been known to build close to a 

 public road, and in the immediate vicinity also of an occupied dwelling- 

 house. 



The eggs, four or five in number, are of a greenish white ground 

 colour, with spots and speckles of greenish grey and brownish grey. 



