THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS 55 



ing further from these than the greater white-throat. 

 It comes to this country a week earlier, resembles the 

 other in general activity, but is far inferior in song. 

 Its warble, however, is short and pleasant, though 

 the louder notes come harshly upon the ear when in 

 close proximity to the singer. Occasionally it may 

 be heard from lofty trees, but for the most part it 

 inhabits such localities as were described as the 

 habitat of the last-named species. Tall hedgerows, 

 copses, gardens and orchards, attract the bird, 

 though we cannot so readily defend it as the white- 

 throated warbler, owing to its decided preference for 

 the smaller garden fruits, and this when insect food 

 abounds. Still, ephemerae and their larvae constitute 

 a greater part of its diet, and the number of small 

 caterpillars which it destroys would compensate for 

 an amount of fruit-havoc which the bird is quite 

 incapable of making. Wild elder-berries are the 

 fruit of which it seems most fond, and the various 

 currants grown in gardens also slightly suffer in late 

 spring. Babillard and babbling-warbler are pro- 

 vincial in some cases specific names which attach 

 to it, these having been bestowed from the fact of a 

 soft gurgling whistle which' it'sometimes emits, but 

 this is so low that, to be heard, the bird must be 

 silently approached, and not alarmed. Bechstein 

 tells us that the " little miller " has some notes which 

 sound like the clacking of a mill. This it is usually 



