264 



AZALEA BABILLARD. 



order, Malvaccee. Generic character : calyx five- 

 cleft ; corolla petals clawed, the tops bearing brown, 

 star-like glands ; urceolus, five-toothed, and bearing 

 the stamens ; anthers starry, like the petals ; stigma 

 five-lobed ; capsules five-united, five-berried ; berry 

 one-seeded. 



AZALEA (Linnaeus). An extensive genus of 

 beautiful flowering shrubs, natives of China, Turkey, 

 and North America. Linnsean class and order, Pcn- 

 tnndria Monogynia ; natural order, RhodoracctE. Ge- 

 neric character : calyx of five teeth ; corolla funnel- 

 shaped, limb in five divisions ; stamens inserted in 

 the receptacle, uncqiuil ; capsule from three to five- 

 celled, valves of the dissepiments formal. Of this fine 

 family of shrubs there are twelve species, and from 

 these have been obtained no less than eighty-three 

 varieties ! to which daily additions are making. The 

 new ones introduced from China within these last 

 forty years are amongst the most splendid plants 

 in our collections : which, together with the old 

 American species, are, in our borders, the chief of the 

 high coloured ornaments. 



^ AZAROLE. A large fruited species of hawthorn, 

 viz., the Crata'gtis rtzarolus of botanists. Every part 

 of the plant, especially the leaves, are of a more ample 

 form than the common whitethorn, and the fruit being 

 nearly an inch in diameter, are cultivated in Italy for 

 the use of the dessert. The fruit arrive at a fair size 

 in England, but are too insipid for English palates. 



BABILLARD, white breasted, and babbling 

 fauvette, or lesser whitcthroat (Curruca garrula, 

 Brisson). Provincial, Nettle-creeper. A small fru- 

 givorous warbler, common in the southern parts 

 of Britain, and in many of the more temperate 

 of Europe and Asia. It is a migratory species, 

 arriving in the neighbourhood of London about 

 the end of April, and departing, for the most part, 

 towards the latter end of September, though a few 

 stragglers are sometimes observed till late in the 

 following month. The bill is of a dusky hue, much 

 resembling in form that of the blackcap, but rather 

 smaller and more slender. The irides, in the younger 

 individuals, are dark hazel, with a tinge of reddish ; 

 but in the course of three or four years become 

 gradually pure white. The upper part of the head 

 is of a fine ash colour, darkest about the ear-coverts, 

 where it contrasts with the snowy whiteness of the 

 throat: all the other parts above cinereous -brown : 

 quills and tail dusky, edged with ash colour ; the ex- 

 terior feather of the latter whitish almost to the base ; 

 the outer web quite white. The whole under parts 



Babillard. 



are white, purest on the throat and belly, and in- 

 clining- to silvery on the breast and flanks ; which 



last, in the older males, are often tinged with a blush 

 colour. Legs and feet dusky lead colour. 



This active little bird is found chiefly about or- 

 chards and gardens, and tall hedges, especially of elm 

 and hawthorn, where it may readily be distinguished 

 in the spring and summer by its continual reiteration 

 of a monotonous and loud shrill note, resembling the 

 sound jee, or ghiti, repeated several times in quick 

 succession. It has also a soft and pleasing continu- 

 ous warble, not very much unlike that of the black- 

 cap (C. atricapilla), only more faint and weak, and 

 easily distinguishable by the frequent recurrence of a 

 note like sip-sip-sip. As it proceeds, it gradually 

 raises its voice, and mostly ends with the tiresome 

 and monotonous note first mentioned, which is ana- 

 logous to the clear and lively whistle with which its 

 congener, the blackcap, most frequently concludes. 

 This species is never observed to mount warbling into 

 the air, as is the habit of another near congener, the 

 whitethroat. 



The Babillard has usually been represented to 

 pass the whole of its time among low underwood, 

 whence specimens of it could only be obtained 

 with difficulty, and by patient watching. This 

 is, however, quite at variance with our observation, 

 for we have always noticed it chiefly to inhabit trees, 

 and have heard it repeatedly, and shot it, from the 

 tops of the very highest elms. Moreover, from its 

 perpetual activity, when searching the leafy branches 

 for food, it is more frequently visible, and is conse- 

 quently, perhaps, even easier to procure- than any of 

 its British congeners. Unlike the whitethroat (C. 

 cinereci), this species is nowhere to be found but where 

 there are trees. 



The nest is usually built in low bushes, though 

 sometimes as much as nine or ten feet from the 

 ground, and not unfrequently among nettles, or other 

 coarse herbage (whence the term nettle-creeper*, its 

 common provincial appellation in the south of Eng- 

 land). It is a tolerably compact structure, though in 

 appearance flimsy and frail, being composed of the dry 

 fragile stems of catch-weed, or cleavers (Galiiim 

 apai-ine), neatly put together, though so scantily that 

 the light may everywhere be seen through it, and 

 invariably lined with small fibrous roots, sometimes 

 with the addition of a little horse-hair. The eggs are 

 four or five in number, of a dull white, speckled with 

 brown and ash colour, chiefly at the larger end, where 

 the spots often form a zone. They are rather 

 smaller than those of the whitethroat, and the spots 

 arc larger, having more the appearance of blotches. 



The food of this species consists of small insects 

 and caterpillars, together with the various garden 

 fruits, being particularly fond of cherries, raspberries, 

 and currants. It is rarely heard to sing from the time 

 these are about, and soon after commences its autumnal 

 change of plumage ; both old and young, however, 

 being still easily recognisable, at this period of their 

 garden depredations, by their constant repetition of 

 a note sounding like the tapping together of two 

 pebbles. This note is also uttered, but more loudly, 

 by the blackcap, and with slight modifications by all 

 the other members of the genus. 



* In most works on the birds of Britain, this name is applied 

 to the common whitethroat, but erroneously. The two species, 

 are often confounded by common observers, as they have been " 

 by naturalists; but whenever a distinction is made, we have 

 always found one to be designated whitethroat, and the other 

 nettle creeper. 



