WHITETHROATS, BLACKCAP, GARDEN-WARBLER 31 



whitethroat clinging sideways to a tall reed, exactly like a reed- warbler, 

 where, with crest erect and body bent forward, he would fling his song 

 at me. Both sexes chatter in a cheerful kind of way, and scold violently 

 if you intrude on their privacy. 



The lesser-whitethroat is quite the shyest of the group. It may 

 be distinguished from the whitethroat by its smaller size, grey head, 

 and the general contrast between the grey and white of its plumage. 

 Its loud, rattling call; so like part of the chaffinch's song; may often be 

 heard about our gardens, or along the high road where tall hedges 

 abound, and wherever the undergrowth is thickest ; but owing to the 

 bird's skulking habits, it is more frequently heard than seen. This 

 prolonged call often merges into the song proper, which is soft and 

 sweet, and sometimes pitched so low that it has to be listened for. I 

 have never seen the lesser-whitethroat singing on the wing. Mr. Eliot 

 Howard says, " When the first males arrive they are veiy restless, travel- 

 ling along the tops of such trees as elms, or amongst the fruit-trees in 

 orchards, to which they are very partial, wandering from tree to tree 

 in search of the ChironomidaB, halting only occasionally to sing. . . . 

 Now in this peculiarity namely, their liking for tall trees and the 

 large area over which they wander when they first arrive they differ 

 from the whitethroat, and this characteristic is more interesting 

 because, upon the arrival of the female, it becomes less pronounced." l 



Blackcaps and garden-warblers are seldom both common in the 

 same locality, though their areas overlap in well-wooded districts. In 

 Kent and Sussex I have found both nesting in the same garden, 

 but in the Norfolk Broads district, while garden-warblers are very 

 numerous near Hickling, the blackcap is seldom seen, whereas a few 

 miles away blackcaps abound and garden-warblers are scarce. 



These two species are larger than the whitethroats. The male 

 blackcap is easily recognised by his black crown, and the female 

 by a corresponding patch of brown ; garden-warblers lack any such 

 distinguishing mark, and are more uniformly olive brown. 



1 British Warblers. " Lesser-Whitethroat," p. 5. 



