368 SYLVIADJl. 



Warblers were generally found in valleys, within two miles 

 of the sea. Upon a large furze-common near Kingsbridge 

 three pairs of old birds were observed on the 16th of 

 July ; two pair of these had young, evidently, by their 

 extreme clamour, and by frequently appearing with food 

 in their bills. 



" On the 17th, my researches were renewed; and after 

 watching for three hours the motions of another pair, I 

 discovered the nest with three young ; it was placed among 

 the dead branches of the thickest furze, about two feet 

 from the ground, slightly fastened between the main stems, 

 not in a fork. On the same day a pair were observed to 

 be busied, carrying materials for building ; and by con- 

 cealing myself in the bushes, I soon discovered the place 

 of nidification, and, upon examination, found the nest was 

 just begun. As early as the 19th, the nest appeared to be 

 finished; but it possessed only one egg on the 21st, and on 

 the 26th it contained four, when the nest and eggs were 

 secured. 



" The nest is composed of dry vegetable stalks, par- 

 ticularly goose-grass, mixed with the tender dead branches 

 of furze, not sufficiently hardened to become prickly ; these 

 are put together in a very loose manner, and intermixed 

 very sparingly with wool. In one of the nests was a single 

 Partridge's feather. The lining is equally sparing, for it 

 consists only of a few dry stalks of some fine species of 

 Carex, without a single leaf of the plant, and only two or 

 three of the panicles. Tin's thin flimsy structure, which the 

 eye pervades in all parts, much resembles the nest of the 

 Whitethroat. The eggs are also somewhat similar to those 

 of the Whitethroat, but rather less, weighing only twenty- 

 two grains ; like the eggs of that species, they possess a 

 slight tinge of green ; they are fully speckled all over with 

 olivaceous-brown and cinereous, on a greenish white ground; 



