THE GARDEN WAUBLER. 159 



What wonder, if, after such praises of our little 

 bird, the epicure longs to add to his delights a dish 

 of the garden warbler! Unfortunately, an ex- 

 cessive attention to the palate soon destroys all 

 the finer tastes, and the charms of music must 

 yield to those of the luxuries of the table. 



Our graceful bird delights in closely-embowered 

 and shady places, and here it sings its song, and 

 builds its nest. This is usually put in some thick 

 bush, at no great height from the ground. ^Ir. 

 Yarrell found one in the midst of a row of garden- 

 peas and the sticks which supported them ; and 

 saw another lying among some tares in the open 

 iield. The nest is made of grasses, dried stalks 

 of plants, and moss, and lined with a few hairs 

 and the fibres of small roots ; the edges being 

 wound about with spiders' webs. The eggs are 

 greenish-white, marked all over with pale ash- 

 grey and olive -brown spots and streaks. 



The garden warbler will eat our currants and 

 cherries in their season, and take a meal from the 

 berries on the elder-bough. Its chief food, how- 

 ever, consists of insects, which it flits after and 

 catches with much dexterity. As this bird leaves 



