THE FAI7VETTE. 379 



Breeding. The Fauvette builds its nest in hedges and 

 bushes, about a yard from the ground, and seems to prefer for 

 that purpose the black or white thorn. I have also occasionally 

 found it in the thickest part of a pollard lime. It is well built 

 of strong grass stalks and root fibres, lined with a layer of 

 finer stalks, or sometimes of moss. The opening of the nest 

 has a border of spiders' web, or of silk from the cocoon of some 

 insect ; and, like the Swallow, the Fauvette lays the founda- 

 tions of several nests before finding a situation quite to its 

 mind. The female lays four or five yellowish-white eggs, 

 spotted with light grey and olive brown. The young are 

 hatched in about a fortnight, and begin to leave the nest as soon 

 as their feathers appear. 



Diseases. The Fauvette is subject to the same diseases as 

 the Blackcap, except that its feathers fall out even more fre- 

 quently, and from a greater variety of causes. If fed with the 

 first universal paste, it frequently dies of surfeit. 



Mode of Taking. In July, August, and September this bird 

 may be caught with springes, baited with cherries, currants, 

 and red or black elderberries. It may also be taken, without 

 difficulty, in the water- trap, especially from seven to nine A.M., 

 or in the evening, just before sunset. 



SWEET'S ACCOUNT. " The present species, whose colours are 

 not so gay as some of the others, is nevertheless a plump, 

 handsome-shaped bird, and its song is scarcely to be sur- 

 passed by any of the genus, the Nightingale excepted. It first 

 visits us in the spring, about the latter end of April, or the 

 beginning of May ; and its arrival is soon made known by its 

 very loud and long song. It generally begins very low, not 

 unlike the song of the Swallow, but raises it by degrees, until it 

 resembles the song of the Blackbird, singing nearly all through 

 the day, and the greater part of the time that it stays with us, 

 which is but short, as it leaves us again in August. In confine- 

 ment, it will sing nearly all through the year, if it be treated 

 well. In a wild state, it is generally found in gardens and plan- 

 tations, where it feeds chiefly on fruit, and will not refuse some 

 kinds of insects ; it is very fond of the larvae or caterpillar, that 

 is often found in great abundance on cabbage plants, the produce 

 of Papilio Brassica, and I know no other bird of the genus that 

 will feed on it. Soon after its arrival here, the strawberries are 

 hpe, and it is not long before it finds them out ; the cherries it 

 irQl begin before they are quite ripe ; and I know not any kind of 



