82 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



or mining a hole in the fig or jargonel pear ; and so 

 intent are they upon this occupation, that they will 

 permit a reasonable examination of their form and 

 actions, but at other periods it is difficult to approach 

 them. The black-cap discontentedly flits about our 

 inclosures and thickets all the summer through, 

 building her nest or tending her young ; the fine 

 clear harmony of the male bird resounding in the 

 morning from the brake, yet, timid and alarmed, he 

 ceases and hides himself if we approach ; but now 

 he introduces all his progeny to our banquet; cautious 

 still, we can yet observe his actions, and easily dis- 

 tinguish the black or brown heads of the sexes, as 

 they are occupied beneath the foliage of an Antwerp 

 raspberry. The white-throats now, too, leave their 

 hedges, and all their insect food, which for months 

 had been their only supply, and in the thick covert of 

 the gooseberry extract with great dexterity the pulp 

 of the fruit, or strip the currant of its berry. The 

 elegant, slender form of the female, her snowy throat 

 and silvery stomach *, render her very conspicuous, 

 as she scuttles away to hide herself in the bush ; her 

 plain brown-backed mate seems rather less timid, but 

 yet carefully avoids all symptoms of familiarity. 

 Other doubtful little birds likewise appear, and are 

 gone ; several of which, however, are probably the 

 young of ascertained species. 



" All these fruit-eating birds seem to have a very 

 discriminating taste and a decided preference for the 

 richest sorts ; the sweetest variety of the gooseberry 

 or the currant always being selected ; and when they 

 are consumed, less saccharine dainties are submitted 

 to : but the hedge-berry of the season our little foreign 

 connoisseurs disdain to feed on, leaving it for the 



* We think our author has in this instance described the male 

 babillard (Curruca garrula, BRISSON) for the female white-throat, 

 J.R. 



