84 NOTES TO THE 



May and June, laying from four to five eggs, which vary con- 

 siderably. One variety is of a greenish-white ground, with a tew 

 minute dots of ash and ochre ; another resembles a small egg of the 

 garden warbler. They are mostly spotted with ash-umber, but a 

 set of eggs I have entirely want them, and in colour and markings 

 resemble those of the yellow wagtail, and one has even the streak 

 so common to this species. They are without any suspicion of 

 ash spots, but are of a pale yellow ground. They resemble in 

 form the type eggs of the yellow wagtail. 



" The lesser whitethroat (C. garrula) is also a summer visitor. 

 It builds a more neat and compact nest than the larger species 

 mentioned above. It is formed of the stems of goose grass, and 

 is lined with fine roots, to which a little hair is sometimes added, 

 and is somewhat of a cup shape. 1 have a nest in which a con- 

 siderable portion of wool is used, which makes it one of the 

 prettiest nests of the warblers I have seen, for in them excel- 

 lence of song is not usually united with a neat and substantial 

 nest. The eggs of the lesser whitethroat are spotted with burnt 

 umber and ash. The ground is lighter, and the eggs have alto- 

 gether a whiter appearance than those of the whitethroat. The 

 ground is pale yellowish-white, but occasionally yellowish ash. 

 They are from four to five in number, and are laid in May and 

 June." 



CITY SPARROWS, p. 103. In November 1874, having some 

 fishery business to transact in Billingsgate, I passed by St. Dun- 

 stan's Church. Just by the church 1 heard a most extraordinary 

 noise, which at first I imagined to proceed from a steam-pipe with 

 a sore throat. I soon, however, found that the noise proceeded 

 from thousands of birds which had settled on two trees in the 

 churchyard. A boy passing by happened to hit a post with a 

 stick ; the noise suddenly ceased, but a few seconds afterwards 

 it began again as loud as ever. The birds were sparrows, and 

 a man who was standing by told me that they generally 

 arrived in large numbers at the end of September and took up 

 their abode for the winter on the trees. They come there every 

 evening at sundown till about the first or second week in 

 February. They go off regularly every morning at daybreak 

 to feed, and he thought that most of them went to Tower-hill and 

 neighbouring streets to pick up the corn dropped from the nose- 

 bags of the cab and van horses. Nobody is allowed, luckily, to 

 disturb them. Lovers of birds should not lose the opportunity 

 of hearing this gratuitous concert, which takes place every 

 evening about sundown. I hear there are two trees in Sparrow- 

 passage, close to the Angel, Islington, where the same thing 



