WHITETHROATS, BLACKCAP, GARDEN-WARBLER 37 



Owing to their retiring habits, lesser-whitethroats are very apt to 

 forsake if disturbed. I think they begin more nests than their con- 

 geners, for I have found six in one small area; but these may be 

 merely the result of the male birds' surplus energy. 



In 1909 I photographed a lesser-whitethroat's nest in a tall, 

 impenetrable thorn hedge. This dwelling was just ready for eggs, 

 when a pair of envious blackbirds came and planted their coarse 

 and clumsy nest on the same site, partly including the daintier 

 structure in their own, and driving away the smaller and weaker 

 birds. There was no lack of room in the hedge for both ; but 

 might was right. Perhaps the blackbirds had prior claim. In 1910 

 they built again almost in the same place, but the whitethroats 

 went elsewhere. 



Some years ago a male lesser-whitethroat appeared in my tiny 

 roadside garden, and for three weeks sat in a bush calling loudly all 

 day for a mate ! Not content with this he built a nest in a tall, 

 variegated box shrub, which was complete but for the lining. At the 

 end of three weeks he appeared with a mate ; together they lined the 

 nest, and ultimately reared a family of four. The situation of this 

 nest was quite the last one would have expected so shy a bird to 

 select, being close to my front door and the high road. 



A pair of lesser-whitethroats have been recorded as using the 

 same nest two years in succession. 1 In this instance the male did not 

 relieve the female when brooding. Quite recently a nest of this 

 species was discovered at Hayling Island containing ten eggs which 

 had been laid in five days : evidently, two hens had utilised the same 

 nest. 2 



The garden-warbler and blackcap are very similar in their nest- 

 ing habits. Both alike love the edges of woods where the tangle is 

 thickest ; the garden-warbler is also partial to shrubs and low growing 

 fruit-bushes. Their nests are rather larger and more loosely con- 

 structed than those of the two whitethroats That of the garden- 



1 Ornith. Monat. Schrift., 1877, p. 122 (Th. Wetzell). 2 British Birds, July 1910. 



