30 Order I 



colour above. The more shy Lesser Whitethroat {8. 

 curruca) has a white instead of a buff breast and a very 

 much finer song of a somewhat simUar character ; it is 

 always a more local bird, not nesting in Ireland, very 

 seldom north of the Border and sparsely in Wales, while 

 the commoner species is universal south of Sutherland 

 and Caithness. Similarly, outside of Britain, the range 

 of both covers Europe south of lat. 65° N. and south- 

 west Asia, though in some parts the smaller bird is the 

 more abundant. Moreover it extends to Siberia, while 

 its congener breeds in Algeria and Tunisia ; but aU 

 depends on the number of forms we recognise, as 

 several are closely allied. The flimsy nest of grass- 

 stems and cleavers is placed in low bushes, brambles 

 and hedges ; but the Common Whitethroat is fond of 

 nettles and coarse herbage to conceal its nursery, whUe 

 that of the Lesser is more often in young hawthorns, 

 blackthorns, and similar situations, and seems absurdly 

 small in comparison. Its five or six eggs, moreover, 

 have a clearer white ground than those of its congener, 

 with olive and brown rather than green markings, and 

 resemble those of the larger Garden Warbler. 



The Blackcap Warbler (S. atricapilla) and the Garden 

 Warbler (S. simplex) are in song worthy rivals of the 

 Nightingale, which some may even consider inferior, 

 though it certainly has more variety of phrases. But, 

 while the songs of the two species may be easily mistaken, 

 the male Blackcap with its black crown, grey nape and 

 under parts can never be taken for the olive-brown 

 Garden Warbler with its whitish lower surface. The 

 female, which has a red-brown instead of a black head, 

 is particularly hard to identify in a dark thicket ; yet 

 this is often necessary, as the nests are similar and the 



