78 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



in flight. Like the tail, the wings are dark brown, 

 each feather being edged with a light rusty brown; the 

 throat and belly are white ; the breast, sides, and vent are 

 very pale grey, tinted in a beautiful manner with a 

 delicate rosy flesh-colour. 



The Whitethroat is non-gregarious, for, although 

 many pairs may be building in a neighbourhood, they do 

 not associate, as with some birds, but keep strictly to 

 themselves; and, indeed, it is seldom that even a pair 

 are seen together, each seeming to have its separate walk 

 in life. 



The male birds arrive in England several days before 

 the females, as is the case with others of the Sylvidae, 

 and they are generally here by the second week in 

 April. When they have paired, they fix upon a nesting- 

 place, which, however, is in most varied positions : 

 sometimes in a hedgerow (even close to a road), in the 

 furze upon the sides of hills, or waste lands ; at other 

 times in a bush in a garden; but oftener perhaps in 

 brambles, or the bushes of the wild rose that grow among 

 little thickets, which the hand of the modern practical 

 farmer has left untouched. 



In the security of this prickly retreat the pair of 

 birds build a deep nest, thinly constructed of dry grass, 

 lichens, and wool, lined with horsehair, and therein the 

 female deposits from four to five eggs : their colour is a 

 dirty greenish- white, spotted and speckled with green and 

 brownish-grey. 



During nesting-time especially, the male bird sings 

 his song under varying circumstances, and consequently 

 in varying manner. He seems at this time, however, to 

 be somewhat pugnacious, as when singing he elevates 



