108 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



if its good fortune has thrown its temporary home 

 near a garden, it brings its whole brood to commit 

 depredations, and to indulge in stolen fruit. The 

 gardener should, however, remember to set off 

 against this the number of fruit- and bud- destroying 

 insects and caterpillars it eats ; for the food of the 

 Whitethroat consists not only of fruit and berries, 

 but of insects and caterpillars, particularly the white 

 caterpillar. The stomach of one which I shot in a 

 barley-field in July was perfectly crammed with the 

 remains of various insects, especially the legs and 

 wings and hard cases. Moreover, the young while 

 in the nest are fed entirely upon insects. 



Yarrell says the Whitethroat makes its appearance 

 in this country about the third week in April, which 

 agrees exactly with my own observations; for my 

 notes of the arrival of this bird for the last four 

 years vary very little, being the 22nd, 19th, 23rd 

 and 20th of April very often, as I before remarked, 

 on the same day as the Sedge Warbler. 



The nest of the Whitethroat is placed in low 

 bushes, shrubs, brambles and thick hedges, and 

 occasionally, according to Hewitson, in a bunch of 

 nettles: it is very thin, and made of stalks, grass 

 and hair, woven strongly together. 



In plumage the Whitethroat is rather a handsome 

 bird. The beak is brown ; irides hazel ; head, ear- 

 coverts and upper part of the nape bluish grey; 

 back scapulars and tail-coverts brown ; wing-coverts 



