Seeeeaecres! PASSERES. SYLVIA. 177 
some of the notes are particularly mellow, and closely approach 
to the whistle of the blackbird. It frequents tangled copses, 
or thick hedges, and, like the rest of its shy tribe, is more 
frequently heard than seen, usually singing from the very 
centre of some close retreat. 
It builds its nest amongst nettles or other thick herb- Nest, &c. 
age, forming it of the decayed stems of goose-grass (Gali- 
um aparine), fibres of roots, and a little moss, flimsily in- 
terwoven; laying four or five eggs, of a yellowish-grey 
colour, blotched with wood-brown, principally at the larger 
end. The alarm-call of this species is very similar to that of 
the White Throat (Sylvia cinerea). In Bewick’s History of 
British Birds, a mistake has been committed, in affixing some 
of the synonymes of the Sylvia hippolais (Lesser Petty- 
chaps), to a bird evidently answering, by the description 
there given, to the species now under consideration. 
Pirate 46. Fig. 4. A male bird of the natural size. 
The whole of the upper parts oil-green, with a shade of eoneral 
ash-grey. On each side of the lower part of the neck ee a 
is a patch of ash-grey. Throat greyish-white. Breast 
and flanks yellowish-grey, inclining to wood-brown. 
Belly and vent greyish-white. Orbits of the eyes white. 
Irides brown Bill wood-brown. Legs and claws bluish- 
orey. 
The female is similar in plumage to the male bird. 
The young of the year have the region of the eyes grey- 
ish-white. Head, upper part of the neck, back, rump, 
and wing-coverts, yellowish-brown, passing into oil- 
green. Quills greenish-grey, edged with oil-green. 
Cheeks and sides of neck yellowish-grey. Throat, 
breast, sides, and under tail-coverts wine-yellow. Middle 
of the belly white. Legs, toes, and claws pearl-grey. 
M 
