Nest, &c. 
General 
descrip- 
tion. 
168 PASSERES. SYLVIA. Gr. Warsiexz. 
actual change of place in the operator *. As it builds in the 
closest bramble or furze bushes, the nest is very seldom 
found, and it remained undescribed till the publication of the 
Ornithological Dictionary. It is composed of moss, and the 
dried stems of the ladies’ bed-straw (Galium), and bears a 
great resemblance to that of the pettychaps, or the white 
throat. The eggs are four or five m number, of a pale 
bluish-white, without spot or stain. ‘The young, when dis- 
turbed, immediately quit the nest, although but half fledged, 
trusting, doubtless, to their instinctive power of conceal- 
ment. 
This bird has been supposed to leave England early in 
the autumn, as its cricket-like cry is seldom heard later than 
July or August; but as this note is presumed to be restrict- 
ed to a determinate period, viz. the season of pairing, it may 
perhaps remain as late as its congeners, but unnoticed, from 
its shy nature, and retired habits. 
Pirate 45 **, Fig. 1. Natural size. 
Upper parts of the body deep oil-green ; the centers of the 
feathers, except upon the rump, dusky, or yellowish- 
brown. Throat white, bounded by a circle of small 
oval brown spots. Breast and flanks pale oil-green, 
passing into greenish-white on the middle of the belly. 
Under tail-coverts greyish-white, the shafts of the fea- 
thers being black. Quills dusky, margined with pale 
oil-green ; tail the same, and very wedge-shaped. Legs 
and feet pale yellowish-brown. Claws hooked and 
strong. 
The female is not distinguishable from the male bird in 
the tints and formation of her plumage. 
* The same effect must have been frequently observed as attendant 
on the Corn-crake (Gallinula crex, Lath.), a bird also very difficult to raise 
on wing. 
