40 THE GARDEN WARBLER. 



Fain, 'mid the hawthorn's budding boughs, 



Or where the dark green ivy shows 



Its purple fruit the foliage through, 



Would I the early Blackcap view ; 



With sable cowl and amice grey, 



Arrived from regions far away ; 



Like palmer from some sainted shrine, 



Or holy hills of Palestine : 



And hear his desultory bill 



Such notes of varying cadence trill, 



That mimic art, that quavered strain, 



May strive to match, but strive in vain. 



GARDEN WARBLER. 



THE GARDEN WARBLER (Sylvia hortensis). Sometimes 

 called the Greater Petty chaps, Nettle Creeper, Billy White- 

 throat, Fauvet, or Garden Fauvet ; is about six inches in 

 length ; the upper parts of the plumage are greyish brown, 

 tinged with olive ; the under parts greyish white, deepen- 

 ing into brown at the breast and sides. It closely resem- 

 bles the Blackcap in form, and somewhat in colour. It is 

 not a plentiful bird in England, and is confined to the south- 

 ern counties, where it is known to arrive about the latter 

 end of April, or the beginning of May. It chiefly inhabits 

 thick hedges, where it makes a nest composed of goose grass 

 and other fibrous plants, with the addition of a light green 

 moss, put somewhat loosely together ; it is lined with a 



