NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH UIRDS. 155 



furze and heather, where, owing to its shy skulking habits, it may easily 

 be overlooked. The nest, made of goose-grass and furze-shoots lined 

 with a little wool and moss, is placed among the branches of the thickest 

 furze, and difficult to find. Four or five greenish-white eggs with olive- 

 or reddish-brown markings are laid in the end of April or the beginning 

 of May. Two broods are reared in the season. 



Hampshire, May. 



Presented by Colonel L. H. Iriy. 



No. 52. WHITETHROAT. (Sylvia cinerea.) 



The Nettle-creeper, as this bird is also called, is one of our 

 commonest summer visitors, and generally distributed throughout the 

 British Islands from the middle of April till the beginning of 

 September. Hedgerows, thickets overgrown with brambles, and nettles 

 are its favourite resorts. The nest, which is lightly constructed of fine 

 grass-stems, with a lining of bents and horse-hair, is almost invariably 

 placed low down in straggling brambles or nettles. The eggs, 

 generally four or five in number, are greenish- white or stone-colour, 

 blotched with violet-grey and light brown. 



Norfolk, May. 



Presented by Lord Walsingham. 



Wo. 53. BLACKCAP. (Sylvia atricapilla.) 



This fine songster is a summer visitor to our shores, arriving about 

 the middle of April and departing southward in September, though 

 occasionally a few birds remain in the British Isles through the winter. 

 It is generally distributed over England and Wales, but scarcer towards 

 the north of Scotland and in Ireland. The food consists of insects, 

 berries of various kinds, and fruit, especially raspberries and 

 currants. The nest, built of dry grasses and lined with horse-hair, is 

 generally placed in a low bush, a few feet from the ground. Pour or 

 five eggs are laid about the middle of May, and are usually of a light 

 yellowish-brown colour, blotched with darker brown (like those of the 

 Garden- Warbler), but sometimes both ground-colour and markings are 

 of a reddish hue. Two broods are reared in a season. 



Sussex, June. 



Presented by Dr. R. Bawdier Sharpe. 



M 2 



