" Their fledglings made good ' sitters.' 



THE GARDEN WARBLER 



T 



HE Garden Warbler is one of 

 our most welcome summer 

 visitors, for although it is 

 of shy, retiring habits, and 

 not much seen, even by 

 people living near where it 

 breeds, it makes its pleasant 

 voice heard a great deal. 

 Arriving at the end of April and begin- 

 ning of May, it departs again in Septem- 

 ber and October. As a vocalist the male 

 ranks next to the Blackcap Warbler. His 

 song is softer and shorter than that of 

 his relative, and lacks something of its 

 wild dash and irregularity, but in spite 

 of these differences many people are 

 unable to distinguish it from that of the 

 Blackcap. I must confess that this is 

 not an easy matter, and that the singer 

 does not help the listener much in the 

 direction of correct identification, for 

 although he is constantly shifting about 

 in his leafy bower, he does not often 

 make his appearance in the open. If, 



however, a view of him should be ob- 

 tained, it will be noted that he is about 

 six inches in length, and is light brown, 

 tinged with olive on his upper parts, 

 and brownish white beneath, the darkest 

 tints of the latter being visible on his 

 throat, chest, and sides. These simple 

 facts will establish the identity of the 

 feathered vocalist, and prevent confusion 

 with either the Blackcap or the greater 

 or lesser whitethroats. 



The male Garden Warbler sings all 

 through the laborious period of chick 

 rearing, and I have known him persist 

 in it whilst he was aware of his mate 

 enduring the greatest distress caused by 

 the proximity of a brown owl to her 

 nest containing young. Cock robins are 

 sometimes guilty of the same kind of 

 apparently hard-hearted behaviour. 



This species breeds in nearly all suit- 

 able parts of England, and is commoner 

 in Wales, the south of Scotland, and 

 Ireland than it was supposed to be only 



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