46 THE LESSER WHITE-THROAT. 



Bishop Mant, after describing the Swallows, says : 



Nor April dost thou fail to bring 

 To greet thee birds of shorter wing, 

 Infirm of flight ; yet such as trill 

 Melodious from their tender bill 

 Sweet music. If the White-throat's lay, 

 Flitting from hedgerow spray to spray, 

 Or gently mounting through the air, 

 To mark its bosom silvery fair 

 Invite us 



And William Howitt makes the music of the White- 

 throat one of the pleasures of a life in the greenwood : 



Come ye, come ye, to the merry greenwood, 



Loudly the Blackbird is singing ; 

 The squirrel is feeding on blossom and bud, 



And the curled fern is springing. 

 Here you may sleep, in the wood so deep, 



While the moon is so warm and so weary, 

 And sweetly awake, when the sun through the brake 



Bids the Fauvet and White-throat sing cheery. 



THE LESSER WHITE-THROAT (Sylvia garrulci). This is 

 another member of the genus Sylvia which comes to us as 

 a summer visitant. It is somewhat smaller than the species 

 last described, but very like it in form and colour ; so 

 much so, that it has been often, even by naturalists, con- 

 founded with it. By Sweet this bird is called the Lesser 

 White-throat; it is also termed the Babillard, and the 

 White-breasted or Babbling Warbler. Neville Wood gives 

 a somewhat lengthened description of it, under the title 

 Garrulous Fauvet, and says that the name Lesser White- 

 throat is an erroneous one ; he describes it as extremely 

 shy and retired in its habits, hiding itself in the midst of 

 the thickest hedges and most impenetrable brakes, which 

 it threads with almost inconceivable rapidity, and seldom 

 quits. The song if, indeed, it deserves the name 

 consists of two or three harsh notes often repeated, but 

 without variation. This is generally uttered from beneath 

 the bushes, rarely whilst perched on the top of them, and 

 not very often on the wing. 



The nest bears a close resemblance to that of the other 



