Garden Warbler. 159 



rich and clear notes from the top of some tree or bush. The 

 Rev. G. Marsh thought, it not very common in Wiltshire, but 

 my own observation does not agree here, as I see it frequently in 

 many parts of the county ; and it arrives at Yatesbury, as well 

 .as in the neighbourhood of Devizes, regularly every spring in 

 some numbers. 



51. GARDEN WARBLER (Curruca kortensis). 



Though closely resembling in general colour and appearance 

 several others of this family, the Garden Warbler may on com- 

 parison be distinguished from its congeners by its superior size, 

 being nearly an inch longer than any other species answering to 

 the same description. Its plumage is grayish-green above, and 

 .greenish-yellow below; it is even more restless, more shy, and 

 more retiring than the last described, and is at least equally 

 common. It frequents the same localities, has the same pro- 

 pensity for fruit, and is an excellent songster ; hence it is called 

 by Bechstein Bastard Nachtigall, the ' Spurious Nightingale/ 

 In Sweden it is, as with us, Trddgdrds Sdngare, ' the Garden 

 Warbler; in France, Bee-fin Fauvette; in Germany, Graue Gras- 

 mucke, ' Gray Grassfly ; in Italy, Beccafico cenerino, l Ash- 

 coloured Fig-pecker.' 



This and the two following species are indiscriminately called 

 * Nettle Creepers ' by our Wiltshire lads. It is the ' Greater 

 Fauvette or Pettychaps' of Willoughby, Pennant, Latham, 

 Montagu, Bewick, and our earlier ornithologists ; and it is the 

 famous ' Beccafico,' so highly prized as an epicure's morsel in 

 Italy and France. But though so much esteemed, and conse- 

 quently so much sought after, it is wonderful in what vast 

 numbers it appears every spring throughout Western Europe. 

 In Italy it may be seen exposed for sale in every market ; and 

 in Malta, as many as a hundred dozen are sometimes brought in 

 at a time.* Montagu says of it : 'In Wiltshire, where I have 

 found this species not uncommon, it resorts to gardens in the 



Mr. C. A. Wright in Ibis for 1861, p. 67. 



