184 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIURARY. 



ern portion, and the Outer Hebrides. It is an occas : onal visitor" 

 only to the Orkne>s and Shetland Isles. 



Range outside the British Islands. Occurs throughout the greater 

 part of Europe, but is rarer in the Mediterranean countries, 

 where it is known chiefly as a winter visitor, or more especially 

 as a migrant. Its breeding range extends as high as 65 N. 

 lat. in Scandinavia, and to 60 in the Ural Mountains, and it 

 apparently extends eastwards as far as Persia and Turkestan, 

 hut in the latter country it is probably replaced by an allied 

 race, Sylvia fuscipilea^ which inhabits the Altai and Tianschan 

 Mountains, and it is this race which winters in North-western 

 India. The specimens in the British Museum show the 

 slightly darker head, from which the eastern race takes its 

 name; but they seem to be approached in this respect bv many 

 European examples, though Mr. Seebohm says that they are 

 not only larger birds, as a rule, but lay larger eggs. 



In winter the Whitethroat migrates by the Nile Valley, 

 through North-eastern Africa, to the Cape Colony and Damara 

 Land. 



Habits. -This is a very lively little bird, and one of the best 

 known of our summer visitors, arriving towards the end of 

 April, and leaving for its African winter home in the end of 

 September. It is found in all sorts of situations, and builds 

 its nest in a variety of places, but is, perhaps, more often seen 

 in the hedge-rows than anywhere else, particularly where 

 brambles or beds of nettles clothe the sides. In the latter it 

 often places its nest, suspended in the stalks and well hidden 

 from sight ; it is doubtless this fact that has gained for the bird 

 the name of " Nettle-Creeper " in many districts. In North- 

 amptonshire we always knew it as the " Hay-Chat," and 

 another myth connected with its nesting in our schoolboy 

 days in the above-named county, was that when one could 

 see through the nest, the latter was ready for eggs. As its 

 framework is very slight, the nest is always more or less 

 transparent. As a rule, the Whitethroat is easily observed, 

 and is a frequent object in any walk in the country near 

 London, especially in the market-gardens in the western 

 suburbs, and the white throat of the bird renders him at once 

 conspicuous, as he flies across the road on to the top of a 



