117 



THE LESSER WHITETHROAT, 



sylviella.) 



PLATE VII. - FIGUEE VI. 



IN form and "habits tlie Lesser Whitethroat closely resembles the 

 species last described, but it is a little smaller and slighter. It makes 

 its home in all the temperate and southern countries of Europe, and is 

 one of the commonest hedge birds in Germany. In these parts, how- 

 ever, it is only a summer resident, leaving even the warm and sunny 

 climate of Genoa and Italy in September. M. Temminck states that it 

 is abundant in many parts of Asia. 



This species which goes by the names of the White-breasted Warbler, 

 the Babbling Warbler, and the Babillard, arrives in the south of England 

 about the third week in April, and spreads over the eastern and mid- 

 land counties, a few individuals only reaching the extreme north. In 

 the districts surrounding London it is moderately abundant, and has 

 been observed in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Derby- 

 shire, Yorkshire, and Durham. It has also been noticed in Hampshire, 

 Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire, but in Cornwall and Wales 

 it is very rare. In Scotland it visits Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Had- 

 dingtonshire, and Ayrshire, and has been met with near Edinburgh, 

 where, however, it is extremely uncommon. It has never been observed 

 in Ireland, the Orkney Isles, or the' Hebrides. 



The favourite resorts of the Lesser Whitethroat are thick hedges, 

 copses, thickets, orchards, and gardens, but especially the latter, where 

 it feeds on the cherries, currants, and other fruit, and also the cater- 

 pillars and numerous insects which infest such places. These birds have 

 been observed in wheat fields, clinging to the stalks, and pecking the 

 insects from the ears; they have sometimes been caught with their 

 beaks filled with the black aphides which attack the bean. It is not 

 easy to obtain a good view of this little Warbler, as it is of very shy 

 and retiring habits. "When you approach its haunts," writes Mr. 

 tlepburn, "it conceals itself in the thickest shade, where it utters its 

 alarm note. One day in July, when lying in wait for Wood Pigeons 

 beneath the shade of some hedge-row trees, I observed one sporting 



