DIVISION OF WAEBLEES. 23 



the Eeed-warbler. Let it be observed that each of these 

 three genera, Sylvia, Phylloscopus, and Acrocejphalus, is the 

 representative genus of the sub-family in this classification, 

 and has given it its name; so that we might expect to find 

 some decided differences of appearance or habit between the 

 members of these genera respectively. And this is precisely 

 what is the case, as anyone may prove for himself by a day 

 or twos' careful observation. 



The birds I have mentioned as belonging to the first genus, 

 i. e. Whitethroat, etc., are all of a fairly substantial build, fond 

 of perching, singing a varied and warbling song (with the 

 exception of the Lesser Whitethroat, of whose song I shall 

 speak presently), and all preferring to build their cup-shaped 

 nest a little way from the ground, in a thick bush, hedge, or 

 patch of thick-growing plants such as nettles. They also 

 have the peculiarity of loving small fruits and berries as 

 food, and are all apt to come into our gardens in search of 

 them, where they do quite as much good as harm by a large 

 consumption of insects and caterpillars. 



Secondly, the two kinds of bird belonging to the genus 

 Phylloscopus, Chiff-chaff and Willow- warbler, are alike in having 

 slender delicate frames, with a slight bend forward as of 

 creatures given to climbing up and down, in an almost entire 

 absence of the steady perching habit, in building nests upon the 

 ground with a hole at the side, and partly arched over by a roof 

 of dried grass, in feeding almost exclusively on insects, and in 

 singing a song which is always the same, each new effort being 

 undistinguishable from the last. In fact these two birds are so 



