226 . THE FAUVETTE. 



as in the preceding, is brown below, light lead-colour above, and 

 whitish within ; the iris is brownish grey ; the feet, nine lines 

 high, are strong, and lead- colour; the upper part of the body 

 is reddish grey, tinted slightly with olive brown ; the cheeks 

 are darker, and round the eyes whitish ; the under part of the 

 body, including the breast and sides, is light reddish grey ; the 

 belly is white as far as the under coverts of the tail, which arc 

 tinged with reddish grey ; the knees are grey ; the pen-feathers 

 and tail-feathers are brownish grey, edged with the colour of 

 the back, and spotted with white at the tips ; the under coverts 

 of the wings are reddish yellow. 



The female differs only in having the under part of the body, 

 as far as the breast, of a lighter colour. 



HABITATION When wild, this bird, which is found all over Europe, 

 appears to prefer the groves and bushes which skirt the forests, as well as 

 orchards in their vicinity. He arrives some days before the nightingale, 

 and departs at the end of September. 



In confinement he is treated like the blackcap, and, being more delicate, 

 must be furnished \vith a cage. 



FOOD. When wild the fauvette feeds on small caterpillars and the otner 

 little insects which are found on the bushes, where he is continually search, 

 ing for them, uttering at the same time the sweetest and softest song. After 

 midsummer he appears very fond of cherries ; he eats the pulp up to the 

 etone, and this causes his beak to be at this season always stained ; he also 

 likes red currants and elderberries. 



In confinement he is so great an eater that if he is not caged he hardly 

 ever quits the feeding- trough of the nightingale. Though he is more easily 

 tamed than the blackcap, he seldom survives more than two or three years, 

 and the artificial food is no doubt the cause. He appears very fond of the 

 universal paste ; but I have often observed that it causes the feathers to fall 

 off to so great a degree that he becomes almost bare, and then I think he 

 dies of cold rather than from any other cause *. 



BREEDING. The nest of the fauvette, placed in a hedge or bush of white- 

 thorn, at about three feet above the ground, is well built on the outside 

 with blades of grass and roots, and inside with the finest and softest hay, 

 very seldom with moss. The edges are fastened with spiders' webs and 

 dry cocoons. The female lays four or five eggs, of a yellowish'white, 

 spotted all over with light ash grey and olive brown. The young, whic^i 

 are hatched after fifteen days' sitting, are no sooner fledged than they jump 

 out of the nest the moment it is approached. 



DISEASES. They are the same as in the blackcap; but the fauvette is 



* No doubt his great voracity weakens his stomach, and by loading the intestines 

 * UJi glutinous matter the vessels cannot take up sufficient nourishment ; it is there- 

 fore Lot conveyed sufficiently to the skin and feathers, whence proceed the fall of 

 the latter and the enfeeblement of the body. 



