46 THE WARBLERS 



country, tells me that something like three-fourths of those he has 

 discovered have been built in heather and the remainder in furze." l 



In general structure the nest resembles that of a whitethroat, 

 but is somewhat more solidly constructed, being composed of goose 

 grass (galiuiri) interspersed sparingly with moss, wool, and a few 

 feathers. Sometimes the building materials consist entirely of fine 

 grass bents, but the nest varies considerably in neatness and com- 

 pactness. Neither is it always so very well concealed. Those found 

 by Dr. Salter in the neighbourhood of Andernos "were placed in 

 poor scrubby gorse about two feet from the ground, and not in the 

 tall dense covers which I had searched " : he also records another 

 nest which he discovered " quite by accident, in poor thin gorse of 

 the autumn-flowering variety, a compact well-built nest, not at all 

 well concealed." 



Lieut. -Colonel Mockler Ferryman describes two nests which he 

 pulled to pieces after the young had flown as follows : " I discovered 

 that a little moss and wool as well as a few small feathers were inter- 

 woven among the grasses in the bottom and in the side of the nest, 

 but these materials were not visible until the grasses were pulled 

 apart. Nests in which young birds have been reared do not appear 

 to flatten out at the rim but rather to sink in the middle, the weight 

 of the birds causing the sides of the nest to stretch from top to 

 bottom, so that they become quite thin. Thus an old nest from 

 which the birds have flown looks a much more flimsy structure than 

 a new nest. Looking down into a nest of fully fledged young birds, 

 one sees a mass of black feathers below the rim of the nest, the only 

 break in the colour being the yellow eye of the fledgling." 



The first nest is built about the middle of April, and the second 

 in June or July. Two broods are usually reared in the season, and 

 Booth says " If deprived of their first nest one pair will continue 

 attempting to rear a brood till late in the season, even after having 

 been robbed of three or four sets of eggs." 



1 Nature Pictures, 102. 2 Booth's Notes on Birds. 



