THE WHITETHEOATS. 3 1 



birds of the same species differ considerably in their power 

 of song — excel all other birds in the soft quality of their 

 tone, just as a really good boy's voice, though less brilliant and 

 resonant, excels aU women's voices in softness and sweetness. 

 So far as I have been able to observe, the Blackcap's voice 

 is almost entirely wanting in that power of producing the 

 harmonics of a note which gives a musical sound its brilliant 

 quality ; but this very want is what produces its unrivalled 

 mellowness. 



The other two members of our first group (we are stUl in 

 genus Sylvia) are the two Whitethroats, greater and lesser, 

 and we have not far to go to find them. They arrive just at 

 the beginning of our Easter term, but never come to Oxford 

 in great numbers, because their proper homes, the hedge-rows, 

 are naturally not common objects of a town. In the country 

 the greater Whitethroats are swarming this year (1885), and 

 in most years they are the most abundant of our eight warblers ; 

 and the smaller bird, less seen and less showy, makes his 

 presence felt in almost every lane and meadow by the brilliancy 

 of his note. 



Wliere shall we find a hedge near at hand, where we may 

 learn to distinguish the two birds 1 We left the Blackcaps and 

 Garden-warblers at the upper end of the Park ; we shall still 

 have a chance of listening to them if we take the walk towards 

 Parsons' Pleasure, and here in the thorn-hedge on the right hand 

 of the path, we shall find both the Whitethroats. As we walk 

 along, a rough grating sound, something like the noise of a 

 diminutive corncrake, is heard on the other side of the 



