122 THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



and the margins of the feathers greenish. This warbler never dwells in large 

 forests, preferring small woods, gardens, etc., especially where there are brambles 

 and thorns in which it can hide its nest. This is built about a foot or more from 

 the ground, and towards the end of May or the beginning of June contains from 

 four to six reddish white eggs, with dark brown spots. The nest itself is built 

 of bedstraw, grass, and rootlets, bound together with cobwebs and lined with horse- 

 hair. The young leave the nest as soon as they are tolerably well fledged. The 

 garden-warbler is an active bird, searching incessantly for its food of insects, 

 peas, berries, and other fruits, and while thus occupied has a habit of looking 

 cautiously around as it glides in a skulking sort of way through the bushes. The 

 song, which is almost equal to that of the blackcap, and is frequently mistaken 

 for that of the nightingale, is composed of long, loud, rich flute-like notes. The 

 bird generally sings from the underwood, and while singing moves restlessly to 

 and fro. Although seldom going further northward than central Sweden, nor 

 beyond Tomsk in Siberia to the east, the garden warbler has been found on the 

 shores of the Arctic Ocean ; but its principal home is central Europe, and more 

 in the west than in the south. It breeds in Portugal, Spain, and Italy, but not 

 in Greece ; and migrates at night, arriving in the north in April and May, and 

 returning to its winter-quarters, which extend from Egypt to the Gold Coast and 

 even Cape Colony, from August to October. 



The barred warbler (S. nisoria) is one of the largest members of 

 ' the group, and distinguished by its pale yellow eyes, and its plumage 

 of brownish grey above, and greyish white below, with brown bars on the throat, 

 breast, and sides. Preferring low-lying leafy forests on the banks of rivers, and 

 generally taking up its abode amid thorn-bushes and shrubs, this species arrives in 

 central Europe from the south in the beginning of May, and breeds as far north as 

 Denmark and Sweden, as far west as the Rhine, and as far east as Turkestan, or 

 beyond. It is an occasional visitor to England, and in Germany is met with rarely in 

 Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Silesia, and Prussia. Leaving Europe in the middle of 

 September, it spends the winter in north-eastern and central Africa. It is a timid, 

 energetic bird, of much the same habits as the garden-warbler, which it resembles 

 in the way it moves along the ground through underwood ; it is unsociable with its 

 fellows and other birds, and lives on berries and other fruits, but chiefly on insects, 

 which it never catches when they are on the wing. The nest is a large one, neat 

 and round within, but rather rough and loose outside, and is always near the 

 ground. The eggs are buff, spotted with light grey, and more faintly marked 

 than those of any other European warbler. The song resembles that of the 

 whitethroat, with selections from the melodies of other birds ; and while singing 

 the bird is continually fluttering, now and then taking short flights into the air, 

 hopping among the bushes, and singing as it slowly descends. 



The river-warbler (Locustella fluviatilis) is not happily named 

 Kiver-Warbler. . ,. ..,,.,„ , . , . 



as it lives principally in the forest, and seldom near running water. 



It may be found amongst beeches and alders, its favourite haunts being 

 beech-woods with clearings overgrown with grass and umbelliferous plants, black- 

 berries, and wild raspberries, or willows, — in short any rather marshy place, 

 not necessarily near a stream. Its food consists exclusively of winged 



