Lesser Whitetkroat. 161 



53. LESSER WHITETHROAT (Curruca sylviella). 



Quite as common in Wiltshire, if not more so, than the last, 

 with which it is often confounded. Indeed, the eggs of this and 

 the preceding species form a large proportion of the whole on 

 every schoolboy's string a table, by the way, of no mean autho- 

 rity in calculating the abundance or rarity of any species in any 

 particular locality. It is even more retiring than its larger 

 namesake, and creeps away out of sight among the brambles the 

 instant it is discovered, threading its way with the rapidity and 

 adroitness of the mouse. From the peculiar character of its 

 note, a low soft warble, it is called the ' Babbling Warbler,' and 

 by Continental naturalists, ' C. garrula' and ' Bee-fin babillard ;' 

 and from the clicking sounds with which it repeats its call-note, 

 ' Klapp, klapp, klapp,' which much resembles the sound emitted 

 from the clapper attached to the little windmills one often sees 

 placed in gardens to scare away sparrows and other birds, it has 

 obtained in Germany the name of Klapper Grasmiicke, and 

 provincially of Weismuller, ( White Miller,' and Mullercken or 

 * Little Miller.' In Sweden it is known as Art Sdngare, or 'Pea 

 Warbler/ so called from its frequenting the pea-fields, for which 

 it has a great partiality.* The Wiltshire ploughboy, who is not 

 appreciative of the minute distinctions which mark the species, 

 knows this, too, by the name of ' Nettle Creeper/ to which per- 

 haps it is even more entitled than its larger congener, inasmuch 

 as it is more ready to escape observation by hiding in the bed of 

 nettles, which offers so convenient and so- effectual a shelter. 

 This appears to be the Pettychaps of (Gilbert White. -f- Pro- 

 fessor Newton observes that the repetition of notes which 

 have been syllabled as ' Sip, sip, sip/ is almost incessant, espe - 

 cially if the weather be sultry ; and that it continues its song 

 much later in the summer than any of its congeners,! while 

 Harting not only says its song is less powerful than that of the 

 Common White throat, but is merely a kind of convulsive 'laugh 



* Lloyd's 'Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 299. 



t Harting's ' Sketches of Bird Life,' p. 70. 



Fourth edition of YarrelFs ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 411. 



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