428 BRITISH BIRDS. 



and blotched with pale red. The head and throat are black, 

 back olive-green, breast and abdomen yellow, a black line 

 running down the breast ; cheeks pure white. 



The Blue Tit (P. run-ahuK), sometimes called the Tomtit, 

 is another useful bird. It builds its nest in holes in walls, 

 trees, itc. The young are fed with small larvaj and plant-lice. 

 The old birds hunt the orchards and clear off endless hiber- 

 nating insects, such as codling moth larvae., American blight, 

 aphis, and red-spider eggs. Sometimes they damage buds, but 

 it is nearly always for the enclosed mite. ]\Iost fruit-growers 

 now encourage it for the good it does. 



The other British species also feed on a similar diet, varied 

 with nuts and seeds. Large numbers of blue tits seem to 

 come from the Continent in autumn and help to clear our 

 orchards of insect pests. 



Warblers (SYr,viix.E). 



The Warblers, such as the "\^'hitethroat {Bijlria cinerea), 

 the Chiffchaff iPhylloiicopuii yiifitx), and many others, mainly 

 migrants, are insectivorous in habits. Some feed upon fruits 

 as well as insects; the Blackcap (SijJvia africapilla), for in- 

 stance, often does much harm to red-currants and raspberries, 

 whilst abroad it attacks figs and oranges. The Garden Warbler 

 [S. liorfensis) also does some harm, feeding off peas and fruit ; 

 but its young are brought up on caterpillars, especially those 

 of the noxious Pieridfe or Whites. Similar remarks apply to 

 all the species, of which there are some twenty recorded in 

 Great Britain. The young warblers differ but slightly from 

 the adults in coloration. The Whitethroats do endless good 

 in clearing off pea aphis, spruce ohermes, I'^c. 



Thrvmiies, Blackbirds, I'tc. (Tvriiin.i;). 



The last sub-family of the Turdida^ contains the Thrushes 

 and Blackbirds (Tiirdun), the Wheatears {Sd.cicola), the Kobin 

 (Erithacus), and the Nightingale (Dauliiw), &:c. The young of 



