66 BRITISH BIRDS 



Nettle-creeper is a common name for this bird, on account of its love 

 of weeds, especially of nettles, no doubt because the small cater- 

 pillars it feeds on are most abundant on them. It is also fond of 

 fruit, wild and cultivated, and visits the gardens near its haunts to 

 feed on currants and raspberries. 



Lesser Whitethroat. 

 Sylvia curruca. 



Head, neck, and back smoke-grey ; ear coverts almost black ; 

 wings brown edged with grey ; tail dusky, outer feather as in the 

 last species, the two next tipped with white ; lower parts nearly pure 

 white ; feet lead colour. Length, five and a quarter inches. 



The difference in size between this warbler and the one last 

 described is very slight ; still, there is a difference ; and the descrip- 

 tive epithet of lesser would also be a suitable one if applied h? 

 another sense. He is a less important bird. To begin with, he i 

 much rarer, being only of local distribution in England and Scot- 

 land, and unknown in Ireland ; in colouring he is more obscure ; 

 his trivial song has nothing in it to attract attention ; he is shyer 

 in habits, passes much of the tune among the higher foliage of 

 the trees he frequents, and is, consequently, not often seen. 



He arrives in this country about or shortly after the middle 01 

 April, and is found in thickets and copses, and hedges in the neigh- 

 bourhood of trees. Like most of the warblers, he is exceedingly 

 restless, and moves incessantly among the leaves, picking up the 

 aphides and minute caterpillars, and from time to time darts into 

 the air to capture some small passing insect. Like the common 

 whitethroat, he is also fond of ripe fruit, especially currants and 

 raspberries. He is often on the wing, passing directly from 

 place to place with an undulating flight and rapidly-beating wings. 

 "When singing he swells his throat out, and delivers his strain with 

 considerable vigour ; but his song is of the shortest, and is com- 

 posed of one or two notes, hurriedly repeated two or three times 

 without variation, and with scarcely any musical quality in it. No 

 sooner is it finished than the bird is off again on his flitting rambles 

 among the leaves and twigs ; it is less like a song than an excla- 

 mation of pleasure a cheerful call that bursts out from time to tune. 



The lesser whitethroat nests in orchards, coppices, thick hedge* 



