110 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



from this country about the same time as the last 

 species : it has been shot in England as late as the 

 13th of October.* 



The food of the Lesser Whitethroat consists prin- 

 cipally of insects, berries and small fruits : it is not, 

 however, sufficiently numerous to disturb the equa- 

 nimity of the gardener, as the last species occasion- 

 ally does. 



Hewitson says the nest is found in situations 

 similar to that of the common Whitethroat, and is 

 made outwardly of umbelliferous plants, bound to- 

 gether with spider's webs, pieces of hemp, or any 

 such materials, and lined with a few roots and the 

 flowering heads of fine grass. 



The beak of the Lesser Whitethroat is black ; the 

 base of the under mandible yellowish brown ; irides 

 yellowish white ; head and neck dullish grey ; back, 

 scapulars and tail- coverts dull hair-brown, with a 

 tinge of olive-green ; wing-coverts and tertials hair- 

 brown ; primaries and secondaries, as well as the 

 tail, dusky brown ; throat and all the under parts 

 white ; legs, toes and claws lead-colour. 



As I have no egg of the Lesser Whitethroat on 

 which I can depend, I have taken the following 

 description from Yarrell : " Ground colour white, 

 sparingly spotted and speckled, principally at the 

 larger end, with ash-grey and light brown. 



* The Zoologist' for 1866 (Second Series, p. 522). 



