ALONG THE LANES AND HEDGEROWS. 55 



Few are the hedgerow-sides that we can 

 stroll along in spring and summer, few the green 

 shady lanes down which we can ramble during 

 this delightful period, without meeting with the 

 WHITETHROAT (Sylvia cinerea). This is another widely 

 bird more often heard than seen, and its harsh 

 scolding notes, uttered as it threads its way 

 through the luxuriant vegetation, or the trembling 

 of the twigs here and there as it hops along 

 the hedge, betray its hidden whereabouts. You 

 may recognise this bird by his reddish brown 

 back, rufous margins to the quills and wing- 

 coverts, and pale whitish underparts. Perhaps 

 the Whitethroat is most en Evidence just after 

 its arrival about the middle of April, for then 

 the male especially delights to play about the 

 more exposed twigs, and repeatedly sits on a tall, 

 bending spray to warble his garrulous song. 

 Sometimes he is so full of joy that he flutters 

 up into the air, or along the top of the hedge, 

 singing gladsomely all the time. This habit 

 is especially marked early in June, when the 

 Whitethroat is in fullest song. In its habits it 

 is a restless little creature, ever hopping about 

 from twig to twig in constant search for the 

 insects and larvae on which it feeds. Like most 

 of the Warblers the present species is partial 

 to fruit, not only eating the wild raspberries and 

 strawberries growing along the banks in the lanes 

 and by the hedges, but visiting the gardens near 

 its haunts. The Whitethroat breeds late, when 

 the verdure of the hedges is in greatest luxuriance. 

 The nest is made among the tangled briars and 

 brambles that interlace the hedges, or grow in 

 dense masses here and there along the lanes. 



