io6 . RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



bordering the stream in some shaded dell, admirably 

 supply the want. The nest you will find, to be a very 

 small and fragile structure and beautifully rounded, and 

 nothing near so deep, accordingly, as the nest of the 

 larger species, It is made of fine grass stems, artfully 

 wove together, enclosing the neighbouring twigs, and 

 lined with a few fibrous rootlets. He who studies the 

 nests of birds, and views them as structures adapted in 

 every particular to the requirements of their feathered 

 owners, will probably pause, and stand perplexed, when 

 viewing the nests of these delicate sylvan birds. Here 

 he will find a netlike structure, almost as loose and 

 fragile as the spider's web, containing the eggs or 

 helpless young of a most delicate bird, while in yonder 

 shrub the sturdy Chaffinch is rearing her young in a 

 nest made of the warmest materials. We might pursue 

 the subject ad libitum with the same results, but the 

 cause we are as yet unable to determine. 



The eggs of the Lesser Whitethroat are four or five 

 in number, and of course rather smaller than the eggs 

 of the larger species. They, are dull white in ground 

 colour, blotched and spotted with deep brown and 

 greenish-brown markings. When the nest is approached 

 the female bird displays her silent protective instinct, 

 and remains brooding motionless over her treasure until 

 almost touched by the hand. Her mate, too, when 

 danger threatens, speedily appears, and both the birds 

 hop anxiously from twig to twig, uttering their harsh and 

 monotonous call notes. You will notice that the more 

 frequently the nest is visited the more wary the birds 

 become, and when their nest is approached the mother 

 bird at once quits it, and, threading her way silently 

 through the foliage, appears a short distance away in 

 company with her mate ; and should you further alarm 



