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consist of Opuntia vulgaris, Agave americana, and Lycium barbarum ; and all the nests he met 

 with were in evergreen-oak bushes, which grow in the hedges with olive and laurels. Captain 

 Feilden informs me that in Malta " it frequently alights on the bare fig-trees, but if alarmed darts 

 into the thickets of prickly pear, uttering its harsh clicking note ; its love-song is a low, rather 

 melodious warble. On the 24th February," he says, " I was attracted to a male of this species, 

 perched on the bare bough of a fig-tree. It was warbling sweetly, and so intent on the object of 

 its affections, who was hopping about below him, that no notice was taken of my approach until 

 I was within a few feet of him." In a letter just received from Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., he 

 informs me that he observed that it does not appear to eat its prey where it has caught it, nor 

 to clean its bill or preen its feathers where it has enjoyed its repast. Like its allies it is 

 insectivorous, feeding chiefly on small insects of various kinds, which it picks up off the ground 

 or else collects amongst the bushes ; and Colonel Irby says that it is partial to figs, grapes, &c, 

 and in winter eats the seeds of the " pepper-tree " of Gibraltar. According to Von der Muhle 

 it breeds twice, or occasionally three times in the year, its nest being placed in a bush or in a 

 low branch, always near the ground. Colonel Irby writes from Gibraltar (I. c.) as follows : — " I 

 have had several nests in my garden, the earliest date on which an egg was laid being the 12th 

 of March. The number of eggs varies from three to five ; the nest is very slight, formed of 

 grass, and sometimes cotton-threads, is lined with hair, and always placed in some thick bush 

 about two or three feet from the ground. The male sits as well as the female. In habits this 

 bird much resembles the Blackcap, but is more obtrusive ; and its song is to be heard at all 

 seasons." Lord Lilford informs me that " it is a bold, active little bird, constantly on the move, 

 has a harsh grating chide when disturbed or alarmed, and utters a low warbling song when at 

 peace. The nest is generally easy to find, placed at a short distance, three or four feet from the 

 ground, sometimes in a dense evergreen bush (for which sort of growth this species has a 

 remarkable partiality), and often in a comparatively open bush with hardly any attempt at 

 concealment. The eggs are from four to six in number." Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., writes 

 (Ibis, 1871, p. 84), it "manifests great alarm when it has not even finished building its nest. 

 The female, with trailing wings, utters incessantly a low but angry note within two feet of the 

 intruder ; while the male (hardly opening his wings) leaps from twig to twig, making the small 

 boughs shake, and in the extremity of his resentment essays to erect a few small feathers in 

 imitation of a crest. They fly with their tails spread, but close them on alighting. Some 

 females are darker than others, especially about the head. I shot a male with a few white 

 feathers appearing in the crown." I have two nests of this Warbler — one taken on the 30th of 

 April, and the other on the 12th of June, near Malaga, in Spain. The nest is a rather neat and 

 compact cup-shaped structure, built of fine grass-bents and tender rootlets, the inside cup being 

 lined with fine roots and a few hairs ; and here and there small particles of a cottony substance 

 are interwoven in the outside walls. 



The eggs of this Warbler are subject to no little variation ; but, judging from several clutches 

 I possess and have seen from Spain and Sardinia, there seem to be two tolerably constant forms, 

 of both of which I possess eggs in my collection. The first of these closely resemble the eggs 

 of the common Whitethroat, but, as a rule, the markings are somewhat clearer and darker; 

 the second differ greatly from these, being white with a few pale violet-grey underlying shell- 



