THE WHITE-BHEAST. 227 



till more subject to the loss of its feathers. It fattens so fast upon the 

 first universal paste that it often dies from this cause. 



MODR OF TAKING. These birds may be caught during the whole of the 

 summer with nooses and springes baited with cherries, red currants, or 

 elderberries. They go also very readily to the water trap, from seven to 

 nine in the morning, and in the evening a little before sunset. 



ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES. " Of the inhabitants of our woods," says 

 Buffon, " fauvettes are the most numerous and agreeable. Lively, nimble 

 always in motion, they seem occupied only with play and pleasure ; as their 

 accents express only joy, it is a pretty sight to watch them sporting, pursu- 

 ing, and enticing each other ; their attacks are gentle, and their combats end. 

 with a song * 



THE WHITE-BREAST* 



Motacilla Fruticeti, LINNAEUS ; La Petite Fauvette, BUFFON ; Die rostgraue 

 Grasmticke, BECHSTEIN. 



THIS bird, which is but little known, resembles in most 

 points the preceding, but its figure is smaller and its plumage 

 darker. Its length is four inches and three quarters, of which 

 two and a half (being more than half of the whole) belong to 

 the tail. The beak, four lines in length, is brown above and 

 yellowish white below and on the edges ; the iris dark brown ; 

 the feet, nine lines in height, are pale lead-colour; all the 

 upper part of the body, comprising the wing-coverts, is dusky 

 reddish grey, darker towards the head and lighter towards the 

 rump. 



I have never been able to discover any difference between 

 the plumage of the male and female. 



OBSERVATIONS. This bird arrives among us towards the end of April. 

 It frequents hilly places covered with bushes and briars, among which it 

 builds its nest, about four of five feet from the ground, and among the 

 thickest foliage. The eggs, five in number, are whitish, mottled with 

 bluish browa, and speckled with dark maroon. Incubation lasts b*it 

 thirteen days. At first the young are fed with the smallest caterpillars, 

 afterwards with larger ones, flies, and other insects ; but as soon as they 

 can fly they accompany their parents in search of cherries, red currants, 

 elderberries, and, later in the season, the berries of the service tree. The 

 family departs together in the month of September, and then some are 

 taken in nooses or springes baited with elderberries. But this species is not 

 much valued, and does not therefore excite the attention of bird-catchers, 

 who give the preference to the fauvette. . 



* This b>rd is not known in Britain. TRANSLATOR. 



