The Whitethroats. 55 



sounding ahead of us as we walk on. This is the 

 teasing way of the greater Whitethroat, and it 

 means that he is either building a nest in the 

 hedge, or thinking of doing so. If you give him 

 time, however, he will show himself, flirting up 

 to the top of the hedge, crooning, craking, and 

 popping into it again ; then flying out a little way, 

 cheerily singing a soft and truly warbling song, 

 with fluttering wings and roughened feathers, and 

 then perhaps perching on a twig to repeat it. 

 Now you see the white of his throat ; it is real 

 white, and it does not go below the throat. In 

 one book I have seen the Garden-warbler called 

 a Whitethroat ; but in his case the white is not 

 so pure, and it is continued down the breast. 

 The throat of both Whitethroats is real white, 

 and they have a pleasant way of puffing it out, as 

 if to assure one that there is no mistake about it. 

 But how to distinguish the two ? for in size 

 they differ hardly enough to guide an inexpe- 

 rienced eye. There are three points of marked 

 difference. The larger bird has a rufous or rusty- 

 coloured back, 1 and his wing-coverts are of much 



1 The scientific name is appropriate, viz. Sylvia rufa. 



