SYLVIINE. 43 
THE LESSER WHITETHROAT. 
SyLvia cuURRUCA (Linnzus). 
The Lesser Whitethroat, as its name implies, is a smaller bird 
than its congener; and although it arrives in England about the 
same time, or a trifle later, its distribution in our islands is decidedly 
less extensive. Tolerably abundant in the southern, eastern and 
midland counties, it becomes rarer in the west, and though it nests 
in Somerset and Devon, it only visits Cornwall on migration. It 
breeds regularly in Brecon, and its nest has been taken near 
Cardigan Bay. To Cheshire and Lancashire it is a well-known 
though not very numerous summer-visitor, and it is generally dis- 
tributed in Yorkshire ; but it is local in the Lake district ; very rare 
in Durham; while, as regards Northumberland, Mr. G. Bolam has 
recorded two examples in September, 1881, near Berwick-on Tweed. 
In Scotland Mr. R. Service informs me that it is seldom met with 
in Kirkcudbrightshire, although better known in the eastern part of 
Dumfriesshire and down by the Borders, and he has only twice 
found its nest; it is said to breed sparingly and locally as far as 
Stirlingshire ; but to the northern counties and in the outlying 
islands it is at most a rare visitor. One is stated in the ‘Scottish 
Naturalist’ to have been shot by Mr. G. Sim in Aberdeenshire, on 
November 4th, 1880, and Mr. Allan Briggs has recently recorded 
two obtained on North Ronaldshay, Orkneys, in autumn. In 
