18 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



for small insects, ^^•llicll it loves, and gardeners will say that it is not 

 altogether innocent in the matter of helping the Sparrows in their attacks 

 npon the peas, nor does it keep itself clear of the small fruit. Birds'- 

 ncsting boys know it as one of " the thin builders," from its loosely con- 

 structed nest, which, being often placed among nettles, gives the bird one 

 of its provincial names, " the Xettle-creejjer." 



Xear Exmouth numbers of Whitethroats are seen for a few days in 

 August and then disappear. 



Lesser WMtethroat, Syhia curruca (Linn.). 



A casual visitor of very rare occurrence. 



Montagu says it had never been noticed in Devonshire when he wrote 

 (Orn. Diet., Suppl. 1813). Dr. E. Moore says. " Kare, I have one specimen " 

 (Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837). The llev. R. A. Julian also observes that it is 

 very rare, and that one that had been shot at Mutley was the only one he 

 could discover as having been ever obtained near Plymouth (' Naturalist,' 

 1851, p. 87). A specimen killed in Devonshire was in the collection of the 

 late Major Godfrey, of Exeter, which is now in the Bath Museum. (K. C.) 



The record of its occurrence and breeding in North Devon in the 

 ' Naturalist ' for 1806, p. 358, is erroneous (M. A. M., Zool. 1891, p. 273). 

 It is stated to have bred near Dawlish and Tiverton (Zool. 1801, p. 300), 

 but we think in error. 



"We have never seen the Lesser "NVhitethroat in North Devon, nor, 

 indeed, in any part of the county. Mr. J. Gatcombe wrote that he had 

 never satisfied himself that he had ever seen it in South Devon. It is 

 very rare throughout Somersetshire until one arrives at the eastern parts of 

 the county bordering on Wilts, and even then it is very far from being 

 numerous. "We never met with it in the neighbourhood of Weston-super- 

 Mare. In some MS. notes of a driving-tour made by Col. Montagu in 

 our possession, there is the account of his seeing a single specimen of this 

 little Warbler on the beach at Minehead, and he expresses his pleasure at 

 meeting it for the first time so far to the Avest. (M. A. M.) 



It is unknown in Cornwall, though it is occasionally obtained on the 

 Scilly Islands during the autumn migration. It has bred in Dorset, but 

 is rare in the Avestern part of that county. 



Black-headed Warbler, Sylvia mehmocephala (Gm. ). 



It appears not improbable that one or more species of Black-headed 

 Warbler occasionally visit England beside the Orphean Warbler, as when 

 seen they would most likely be passed over as Blackcaps. 



On the 16th April, 1800, whilst watching a male Blackcap which had 

 just arrived, and was feeding on ivy-berries in our garden at Exmouth, 

 another bird with a jet-black head, hut pure white throat and underparts, 

 and with a slender beak, longer and larger in proportion than in the 

 Blackcap, settled on a twig quite close to it, and wc were able to compare 



