64 BRITISH BIRDS 



some birds will continue singing ; as a rule, not half so many as may 

 be heard during daylight. 



The nest is nearly always placed on the ground beneath a hedge 

 or close thicket ; it is rather large, and composed of dry grass and 

 dead leaves loosely put together, the inside lined with fine dead 

 grass, rootlets, and vegetable down. The eggs are four or five in 

 number, and of a uniform olive-brown colour. 



During incubation and after the young are hatched the parent 

 birds display the most intense solicitude when the nest is approached, 

 and flit from bough to bough close to the intruder's head, incessantly 

 repeating two strangely different notesone low, clear, and sorrow- 

 ful, the other a harsh, grinding sound. 



The return migration is in August and September. 



Whitethroat. 

 Sylvia cinerea. 





FIG. 27. WHITETHKOAT. natural size. 



Head ash-grey tinged with brown ; rest of upper parts reddish 

 brown ; wings dusky, the coverts edged with red ; lower parts white 

 faintly tinged with rose colour ; tail dark brown, the outer feathers 

 white on the tips and the outer web, the next only tipped with 

 white. Female without the rosy tint on the breast. Length, five 

 and a half inches. 



