44 LESSER WHITETHROAT. 
Ireland the first and only recorded example was taken at the 
‘Tearaght lighthouse on October rst, 1890. 
In Scandinavia the Lesser Whitethroat breeds up to about 65° 
N. lat ; while southward it is found in summer over the greater part 
of temperate Europe. It is, however, rare in the south-west, though 
I recently saw an individual in the Western Pyrenees, but a few pass 
the winter to the east of M4laga, and in some years the species is 
fairly common on migration about Valencia and Murcia. In Italy 
it is very local; but eastward it becomes more abundant, and in 
Transylvania its numbers far exceed those of its relative. Beyond 
the valley of the Lower Volga the doubtfully distinct Siberian form 
S. affinis, replaces it; in Kashmir, the Himalayas and the north- 
west of India comes 5S. a/thea ; while the Afghan SS. mznuscula, Hume, 
makes yet a fourth. Our typical bird winters in Northern and 
Central Africa, Arabia, Palestine and Persia. 
The nest is a shallow structure of dried grasses, lined with hair, 
and is frequently placed in brambles or small bushes ; a predilection 
being shown for hazel and thorn-hedges, whence the bird’s Lan- 
cashire name of ‘ Hazel-Linnet.’ The 5-6 eggs, laid in May, are 
creamy-white, blotched with brown, and with under-spots of grey: 
measurements ‘65 by ‘5in. The female sits very closely. The song 
of the male is continued very late into the summer, and has been 
syllabled as szp, sz, sip, frequently uttered in sultry weather; the 
alarm-note is check, check. The food consists of insects and their 
larve, and fruit in the season. The autumn departure generally 
takes place in the latter part of September, but exceptional captures 
up to November are on record. 
Adult male: crown smoke-grey; lores and ear-coverts dark 
brown ; nape, back and tail-coverts brownish-grey ; wing-feathers 
ash-brown, with paler tips and margins, but without the rufous 
edgings to the secondaries, which are so conspicuous in the larger 
species ; outer tail-feathers greyish brown with white outer webs; 
the rest of the feathers dark brown ; under parts white, with a faint 
rosy tinge, fading into buff on the flanks ; bill blackish ; legs, which 
are short and stout, slate-colour ; iris white. Length 5:25 in. ; wing 
to the tip of the 3rd and longest primary 2°6 in. The female is 
rather smaller and generally duller in colour. The young are like 
the female, except that the pale margins of the wing-feathers are 
more pronounced, and the irides are reddish-brown. 
Sundevall states that this species, the Greater Whitethroat, and 
the Barred Warbler, all have a spring moult. Mr. J. Young, who 
has kept the Lesser Whitethroat for several years, confirms this as 
regards some of the quill-feathers, but not all. 
