GARDEN WARBLER 



Sylvia hortensis 



HE Garden Warbler is pretty generally distributed through- 

 out England, except in the extreme south-west, but is 

 exceedingly local in Wales. In Scotland it has been met 

 with in most of the counties south of Inverness-shire, 

 but is not at all a common species. In Ireland it seems 

 to be even rarer, and has only been found in two or 

 three counties. 



The Garden Warbler is seldom observed in this country before the first 

 week in May, and is one of the latest of our summer migrants. It seems 

 that the Garden Warbler and the Blackcap do not get on together, as in 

 districts where the Blackcap is common the Garden Warbler is comparatively 

 rare, and where the Garden Warbler abounds the Blackcap is seldom seen. 

 As its name implies, the Garden Warbler is often seen in large gardens and 

 shrubberies ; its haunts are in the dense thickets, whether it be the thick 

 undergrowth of plantations and copses of hazel, or the thick hedges over- 

 grown with bindweed. It is a shy, restless bird, like most of the Warblers, 

 and frequents the most secluded nooks in the districts which it visits. It 

 keeps out of sight as much as possible, hopping restlessly from branch to 

 branch, and if alarmed sneaks quietly away into the thickest cover. 



Soon after the females have arrived, the male may be heard warbling his 

 sweet plaintive notes. The song is not so loud as the Blackcap's, and lacks 

 the full round notes and richness of tone which characterise the song of that 

 bird ; but no other Warbler possesses so low and sweet a song as the 

 Garden Warbler. As a rule, the Garden Warbler sings from the shelter of 

 some thick bush, but now and again the little sober-coloured musician may 

 be seen pouring forth his song from the topmost twig of some low tree or 

 bush. The song is heard almost incessantly until the first brood is hatched, 

 VOL. rv. L 41 



