WARBLERS. 115 



Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Specimens have been received by 

 the Zoological Society from Trebizond, and it has been noticed in 

 Smyrna. 



The males arrive in this country about the third week in April, 

 and resort to the borders of woods, thickets, plantations, and gardens, 

 but more particularly to bushes and hedgerows, where they await the 

 arrival of the females, which takes place ten or twelve days later. 

 They depart for warmer climates about the end of September; a, 

 specimen was shot, however, in 1843, at Raheny, near Dublin, as late 

 as December. The song of the Whitethroat is loud, lively, and for 

 the most part sweet, but it contains a few somewhat harsh notes; 

 it is performed in a sprightly and earnest manner, usually from the 

 top of a hedge; the bird accompanies it with many curious jerks of 

 the wings and tail, at the same time erecting his crest and widely 

 distending his pretty white throat. He warbles from sunrise to sunset, 

 not ceasing even during heavy rain and thunder-storms. Macgillivray 

 says, "If you be walking along a hedge in the early twilight, the 

 little creature is sure to come up, announcing its presence by a song, 

 and flitting in advance for perhaps a long way. One morning in 

 July, 1835, when approaching Edinburgh after walking all night from 

 Glasgow, I encountered several Whitethroats in this manner, some of 

 which accompanied or preceded me several hundred yards, although I 

 could not see one of them/' It has been noticed that at the pairing 

 time these birds will mount into the air to a considerable height, in 

 a, curious kind of circuitous flight, pouring forth their notes at the 

 same time in an excited and vehement manner. 



Of extremely active and restless manners, the antics and gestures 

 of these elegant little birds are most amusing to watch, as they sport 

 merrily in the hedges, and dart from tree to tree with many a jerk 

 of the tail and twist of the body, now and then pausing for a moment 

 and glancing around, with a knowing and roguish twinkle of the eye. 

 "The peasant boys in East Lothian/' says Mr. Hepburn, " think that 

 these birds are mocking or laughing at them as they tumble over 

 the hedges and bushes in the lane, and they therefore persecute them 

 at all times, even more virulently than they do Sparrows. They fre- 

 quently enter our gardens in search of food. They delight to mob 

 cats, never ceasing their alarm-note till their foe retires." 



The food of the Whitethroat consists chiefly of insects and larva?, 

 for which it searches the trees and shrubs, or darts into the air. It 

 also eats cherries, currants, raspberries, and other fruit. Its nest is 

 built among long grass or nettles, and sometimes in low bushes; it is 

 generally carefully hidden, but has been occasionally found in exposed 



