662 HEDGE WARBLER. 



beak is dusky : irides dark hazel : the prevailing 

 colour dusky brown 5 the feathers of the back 

 and wings edged with reddish brown : the rump 

 greenish brown : the cheeks, throat, and fore-part 

 of the neck, dull blueish ash: the sides of the 

 body and thighs pale tawny brown: the belly 

 dirty white : the quills and tail dusky : the legs 

 brown : the female has less cinereous about the 

 head and breast. 



This bird has very little song, and what it has 

 is only uttered in the winter season, when it con- 

 tinually repeats the notes tit, tit, tititit, which has 

 occasioned it to be called Titling in some places : 

 it remains with us throughout the whole year, but 

 in France it is migratory, appearing in October, 

 and returning to the north in the spring : it breeds 

 very early, commencing its nest in March -, it is 

 composed of green moss and wool, and lined with 

 hair ; it is placed in a low thick bush or hedge, 

 and is often selected by the Cuckow to deposit 

 her eggs in. The female mostly lays four or five 

 uniform pale blue eggs : its food is insects and 

 worms, and it will frequently pick up crumbs, 

 when there is a deficiency of the former. 



