THE BLACKCAP AND WHITETHROATS. 103 



shy, and you can approach him closely when so engaged. 

 The Whitethroat, like many other songsters, sings as he 

 flies, and I often see him, when flying from hedge to 

 hedge, soar up in the air and utter notes much freer than 

 when at rest He is rarely heard to sing after the third 

 week in July. 



The Whitethroat, though essentially an insect feeder, 

 must still, however, rank as one of the fruit-eating 

 Warblers. Upon their arrival they feed upon insects and 

 their larvae, on which their young are also reared ; but 

 when the fruit is ripe we see the Whitethroats regaling 

 themselves in the fruit gardens. Wheat is fruit to them, 

 and when that grain is in its soft creamy stage, previous 

 to ripening, we see the Whitethroats devouring it greedily. 

 Insects, too, which infest corn-fields, particularly the fly 

 known as 'daddy long legs,' are at the same time preyed 

 .upon. The Whitethroat is very often seen capturing 

 insects like the Flycatcher, and running and creeping 

 over trees and shrubs, like the Titmouse or Creeper. 



Although the Whitethroat arrives here comparatively 

 early in the year, still it is one of the latest birds to 

 breed. Most, if not all, of our summer migratory birds 

 are late breeders, and this is partly owing to the fact 

 that all, or nearly all, breed in secluded places ; and as 

 the vegetation in which they find seclusion is not suffi- 

 ciently dense until very late in the spring, or even early 

 summer, to nest earlier in the season would be quite at 

 variance with their retiring habits. But at the same 

 time food is very probably another cause of late breed- 

 ing, for the young are perhaps fed upon food which only 

 makes its appearance at certain times. By the second 

 week in May the Whitethroat is in pairs, and soon after 

 that date we find their flimsy net-like abode. In the 

 brambles creeping in wild confusion over a waste bit of 



