BIRDS BROWN ABOVE AND WHITE BELOW. ft* 



Thin bird is not so much the Leaser as the 

 rarer Whitethroat, the difference between it and the 

 Common Whitetliroat in point of size being inappre- 

 ciable, but in range and numbers great. Arriving 

 during April, it nests in brambles, or sometimes in the 

 higher hedgerows. The nesting-site is always within 

 easy distance of trees, for the Lesser Whitethroat is 

 as a rule a higher percher than the common species. 

 In form the two species are practically indistinguish- 

 able. They differ, however, in colour, song, and 

 habits. The Lesser Whitethroat is of a gray tone in 

 the upper parts, differing therein notably from the 

 duller ash-gray head, ruddy-brown back, and warm 

 chestnut in the wings of the Common Whitethroat 

 The song of the latter is a hurried gabbling of many 

 notes ; that of the Lesser Whitethroat opens with 

 a few subdued undertones, then bursts out in a 

 high-pitched note, repeated several times without 

 variation. This song is generally given from a 

 tree. Both birds have pure-white throats, and a 

 similar habit of puffing them out very fully when 

 singing. 



WOOD- WREN 6J inches; yellowish-green above; pro- 

 minent yellow eyebrow ; yellowish-white below. Also 

 a singer in the high trees, but the song opens with a 

 few clearly warbled notes, and runs up into a close, 

 shivering trill. It has also a detached note, ' Ting ! ting ! 

 ting ! ' repeated several times in succession in a measured 



GARDEN-WARBLER. Plate 26. Length, 6j 



inches. Upper part* olive-brown, with pale streak 

 over eye ; wings and tail darker ; under parts grayish- 



