58 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



THE GARDEN WARBLER. Curruca hortensis. The Greater 

 Petty chaps, as this bird is also designated, is of very shy 

 and retired habits, seldom appearing out of the thicket or 

 shrubbery ; the garden is with it. a favourite resort. The 

 nest is placed in bramble, blackthorn, or large plants which 

 form the undergrowth of the wood or plantation, and is a 

 slight fabric of fine straws, stalks of grasses, slender roots, 

 and hairs. The eggs, four or five in number, are of a dull 

 yellowish-grey, or pale purplish-brown, spotted and blotched 

 with dark markings of the latter colour. 



THE WHITETHROAT. Curruca cinerea.- The nest of 

 this bird, which, though strongly compacted, is slight in 

 its appearance, is usually built, not far from the ground, in 

 a bramble or other bush, and also in tall herbs and nettles. 

 Dried stalks of grasses and other plants, with finer portions 

 of the same, and hair for the interior, compose the mate- 

 rials of the nest. The eggs, four or five in number, are 

 greyish or greenish-white, speckled with wood-brown and 

 grey. (PL VIII. fig. 53.) 



THE LESSER WHITETHROAT. Curruca garrula. The 

 nest of this species is built in similar situations to that of 

 the last, and is a slight and apparently careless fabric. The 

 eggs, four or five in number, are of a greenish-white ground, 



