THE LESSER WHITETHROAT. 67 



selects the snow-berry as a site for its nest : he also reminds me of the 

 frequency with which those found by its at various times contained imperfect 

 clutches ; a full clutch being the exception, and two to three eggs the rule. 

 Although the bird itself is very shy, I have not observed that it makes any 

 special effort to conceal its nest, and many a time when I have found it to 

 contain only one egg, and have left it in the hope of subsequently securing 

 it with a full clutch, I have found it torn out by some village clown. 



To take one egg from the nest of the Lesser Whitethroat is sufficient to 

 ensure its desertion : even if a similarly coloured small marble is substituted, 

 the only result is that the bird ejects the marble and then lets the empty 

 nest alone : I never knew her to lay a second egg after the first had been 

 abstracted. Like the Wren, this little bird will run no risks ; if you interfere 

 with her domestic arrangements, she will, for the time, give up housekeeping. 



The structure of the nest is much firmer, and, to my mind, neater than 

 that of the Common Whitethroat ; a pretty little cup formed of stout bents 

 and rootlets firmly interlaced with the twigs among which it is fixed and 

 interwoven here and there with a little fine wool and spiders' cocoons ; it is 

 lined with fine bents, root fibre and a little horsehair. The eggs vary in 

 number from four to five : when less than four are incubated, the nest is 

 probably a second one and hurriedly constructed, the first having been tampered 

 with. In colouring, the eggs vary much less than those of its larger relative; 

 indeed the difference in ground-colour, is slight, varying from white to cream- 

 colour, the markings diffused olive-brown, with underlying silver-grey or pale slate 

 spots and overlying dots and lines of blackish brown : some specimens have the 

 spots large and boldly defined, especially towards the rounded extremity where 

 they frequently form an irregular zone ; sometimes the end of the egg enclosed 

 by this zone is suffused with dirty buff; at other times the spots, though 

 similarly disposed are small and scattered ; and, lastly, in some clutches the 

 spots are rather small and sprinkled over the entire surface. 



Although I have found few birds so easily put off" the nest before the 

 completion of the clutch, no sooner has the hen commenced incubation than 

 she becomes a very close sitter, only leaving her eggs at the last moment, 

 when satisfied that her death-like inaction has failed to protect them from the 

 intruder ; even then she does not move far away, but fidgets about in the 

 scrub, scolding ; in this pastime she is frequently accompanied by the male 

 bird which is usually within earshot, and promptly appears on the scene to 

 investigate the cause of his consort's ill temper. 



The food of the Lesser Whitethroat consists of small insects and their 



