204 



THE CHIFF-CHAFF. 



very retiring habits it would be a well -known bird, and many persons have been charmed by 

 its melody, who have no idea of tlie bird from whose small throat it proceeds. 



The food of the Garden Whitethroat is mostly of an insect nature, but the bird is not 

 averse to various fruits, and in the autumn often becomes rather obnoxious to the gardener. 



The nest is not unlike that of the common Whitethroat, and is placed in similar localities ; 

 a low thick bush being the favorite spot, although on occasions the bird will build its house 

 among thick herbage, or even among heavy ivy leaves. The nest is made quite as loosely as 

 that of the prpceding species, and is composed of grasses, fine fibrous roots, moss, haii', and 

 lichens, and the interior is softly lined with hair and other similar substances. The eggs are 

 greenish-white, covered with many spots and blotches of light brovra and ashen-green. 



By its color the Gai'den Whitethroat can be distinguished from its relative, as the upper 

 surface is of a more delicate brown, and the abdomen of a purer white than the throat, which 

 is tinged with a pale brown. The under wing-coverts are pale buflf, the beak is dark brown, 

 and the eyes are beautiful hazel. The total length of this species nearly reaches six inches. 



The tiny Ciiiff-Ciiap^f, one of the smallest of the European birds, is the first Warbler 

 that makes its appearance in the north, and that cheers with its pretty little song and its 

 light, lively actions. 



The curious name of this bird has been derived from its cry, which bears some resem- 

 blance to the words "Chiff-chaff! Chery-churry ! "' often repeated. This little song is some- 

 times uttered while the bird is on the ^\ing, but generally when it is j)erched on some con- 

 venient bough of a lofty tree. The localities which it most frequents are woods and hedge- 

 rows, and so lively is it in temper, 

 that its pleasant little voice is often 

 heard before the trees have put forth 

 their verdure. It is a very iiseful 

 bird, as it feeds almost wholly on 

 insects, and on its first arrival saves 

 many a grand oak-tree from destruc- 

 tion by devouring the caterjiillars 

 of tlie well-known green oak moth, 

 which roll up the leaves in so curious 

 a mannei', and come tumbling out of 

 their green houses at the slightest 

 alarm. Gnats and other small flies 

 are a diet much in favor with the 

 Chiff-chaff ; and one of these birds 

 that had been captured and tamed 

 was accustomed to dash to the ceil- 

 ing of the room in wliich it was 

 kept, and to snatch from thence the 

 flies as they settled after their fasliion 

 on the white surface. 



This little bird has been- seen in 

 northern parts of Europe as early as 

 the twelfth of March, and it remains 

 in those countries as late as the middle of October, so that it is the first to arrive and the last to 

 depart froiri there of all the European Warblers. 



The nest of the Chiff-chaff" is something like that of the conuuon wren, being a rounded 

 structure with a hole in the side, through which the bird obtains admission into the interior. It 

 is seldom ])laced at any great elevation from the groimd, and is often built upon the soil itself 

 at the foot of some oversliadowing bush. The materials of which it is composed are generally 

 leaves, grasses, and moss, and the interior is lined with a warmer bed of soft feathers. The egg8 

 are five or six in number, and their color is whitish-gray, speckled with a few spots of dark red. 



CmPPCHAFF, OR LESSER PETTICHAPS. 



-Sylvia cirierca. 



