when it ceases for a time, to be again commenced as soon as the second 

 clutch of eggs is laid. The call-note is a sharp ' click, click' exactly like the 

 sound made by knocking two small stones together. 



The Garden Warbler feeds on berries and small fruits of various kinds, 

 as well as on insects. It may be seen chasing the insects in the air like 

 a Fly-catcher, or searching for them under the leaves and among the grass. 

 When the summer fruits are ripe it takes toll of the cherries, strawberries, 

 raspberries, and currants from the gardens, and in autumn it eats the berries 

 of the elder, ivy, etc. 



Soon after their arrival in this country the Garden Warblers pair, and 

 choose a site for their nest. This is usually near the ground, in some tangled 

 mass of vegetation, in the quietest and most secluded corner of their haunt. 

 Sometimes the nest is placed on a dead branch choked with nettles, or 

 among the broad leaves of the brambles, or it may be artfully suspended 

 from a network of briers overgrowing some bush. It is a flimsy-looking 

 netlike structure of the dead stems of grasses or small roots, often cemented 

 together with cobwebs and a few shreds of moss, and nearly always artfully 

 interwoven with the surrounding branches. The lining usually consists of 

 a small quantity of horse-hair, and, although it appears so frail a structure, 

 it is strong and skilfully made. The bird is so exactly the colour of the 

 surroundings as she sits on her nest, that only the most prying observer 

 would notice her. How closely she sits, allowing herself to be almost touched 

 ere she glides like a shadow into the neighbouring undergrowth ! 



The eggs laid vary in number from four to five ; six are occasionally 

 found. They are very like those of the Blackcap, though as a rule not so 

 brown in general appearance. The ground-colour varies from pale buffish 

 white to greenish white. In some specimens the markings are distributed in 

 large blotches of greenish brown, varying in depth of colour, and mixed with 

 smaller and paler underlying markings, with a few irregular streaks of rich 

 dark brown ; in others the underlying spots are the predominant ones large 

 pale violet grey blotches, the surface-markings of brown having the character 

 of streaks and mottlings, some of them being very dark; in a third variety 

 the markings are chiefly round the large end of the egg very rich brown 

 spots and streaks, and grey underlying blotches. The red variety, which is 

 found among the eggs of the Blackcap, is not known to occur. They vary in 

 length from '84 to "69 inch, and in breadth from '64 to -54 inch. 



42 



