THE WHITE-THROAT WARBLER. 363 



margined with rich colours, and the outer curb of the first 

 quill and the outer tail feathers, and also the tip of the latter, 

 white. The chin and throat white, passing into very pale 

 rose colour on the breast, and into white again on the belly, 

 vent, and under tail coverts. The female wants the rosy 

 tinge on the breast, has all the colours less perfect, and 

 upper part more inclining to brown. Their young are 

 browner above than the old birds, have a pale streak from 

 the gape to the eye, and the outer web of the first quill 

 reddish-brown, instead of white. The feathers on the head 

 are a little produced, and capable of a slight elevation when 

 the bird sings, so that the forenead and crown of the head 

 appear higher than in any of the other warblers. 



The white-throat is not so elegantly formed as the red- 

 start, and it is about half an inch shorter and narrower in 

 the wings, in nearly the same proportion ; but it is more 

 compact, looks stronger, and weighs about the same. Its 

 attitude is different on the perch. The axis of the body is 

 more horizontal, and the neck elevated with a shorter bend, 

 which, with the produced feathers on the top of the head, 

 gives it a brisker aspect. 



In the nesting season, the white-throat keeps much in the 

 retirement of its hedges and bushes, not leaving the cultivated 

 grounds, but choosing those parts of them where the cover is 

 thickest or most retired. When disturbed, the birds flit 

 about in the hedge, uttering a grating and querulous sort of 

 chirp; but when they are undisturbed, the male continues 

 his song even in the heat of the day, when most of the other 

 birds are mute. That song is sometimes given from the 

 perch, but more frequently on the wing, not during an 

 onward flight, but rising to a small elevation, and again 

 gliding slowly down. When it sings, the feathers on the 

 head are erected, and the anterior part of the throat dis- 

 tended so as to show the white very conspicuously. It sings 



