THE WHITETHROAT. 81 



The eggs, usually five in number, are minutely 

 speckled all over with ash-brown or ash-green, and 

 spotted at the larger end with gray. Two broods 

 are commonly reared in a season. The young birds 

 have a light-coloured space between the bill and the 

 eye ; the irides are yellowish brown, and the outer 

 tail-feathers tinged with rufous. 



We have watched an old Whitethroat bringing 

 food to its young, and have been surprised to see in 

 how short a space of time it contrived to find food 

 and return to the nest. In ridding the hedges 

 of the swarms of caterpillars which infest them in 

 spring, the Whitethroat certainly does good service, 

 and in this respect makes some amends for the 

 currants and raspberries which it takes later in the 

 summer. 



It is generally distributed throughout the British 

 Islands ; and in Ireland, where the Lesser White- 

 throat is unknown, it is as common as in England. 



The Lesser Whitethroat is much more local, 

 being rare in Scotland, as well as in the West of 

 England and in Wales, although this reported 

 scarcity, as we have hinted in regard to some 



other species, may be owing not to the absence of 



G 



