432 



in England, as elsewhere in Northern and Central Europe, it is a summer migrant, arriving late 

 in April or early in May, when the trees are bursting out into leaf; and, as is the case with most 

 if not all of our summer visitants, the males arrive before the females. Its song is sweet, though 

 somewhat wild and irregular ; and though commenced in a low tone, it is gradually raised until 

 it becomes loud, and is usually prolonged. It sings assiduously throughout the whole day. Its 

 call-note is a harsh tack, tack, tack, rather deep in tone. It feeds on insects of various kinds, 

 berries and fruit, and is fond of strawberries, cherries, plums, and other garden fruits ; and in the 

 south of Europe it is said to be very partial to figs : hence its Italian name " Beccafico ;" for, 

 so far as I could ascertain, the present species is the true " Beccafico," though I saw numbers of 

 various kinds of small birds, including even Titmice and Greenfinches, sold in the Italian markets 

 uuder that name. Herbert says that it feeds on the berries of the ivy, privet, elder, and berberry ; 

 and Sweet that it is exceedingly partial to the larvae and caterpillar of the common cabbage- 

 butterfly ; and it is, he adds, the only bird of the genus known to him that will feed on this 

 destructive insect. Naumann says that in the autumn it feeds almost solely on berries; and 

 Mr. Collett writes to me as follows: — "Amongst the berries on which this species feeds in the 

 summer and autumn are those of the poisonous Paris quadrifolia. In the summer of 1860 I 

 found a nest containing nearly fledged young of the Garden- Warbler, and I put them in a cage, 

 allowing the old ones to feed them. Besides cherries and other berries, the parent birds brought 

 many of Paris, of which an abundance grew all round. Some of these berries fell out of the 

 cage on to the ground ; but most were eaten by the young, whose droppings were strongly 

 coloured by them ; but they did not appear to disagree with them in the least, and I fed other 

 birds also with these berries without any injury to them. Amongst others I gave to the young 

 of the Blackcap, Whitethroat, and Robin these berries for food." 



The nest of the Garden-Warbler is placed in a low bush, amongst dense herbage, or in a 

 bramble thicket, and is rather lightly though tolerably firmly constructed of grass bents and a 

 few rootlets intermixed with a little wool and moss, and lined with a little hair and fine roots. 

 Naumann says that it seldom contains hair, and is very slightly constructed, so much so that 

 after it is used it soon gets destroyed by the weather. Naumann adds that, from his own obser- 

 vations, extending over many years, it certainly only raises one brood in the season, but as it 

 frequently forsakes its nest on very trifling grounds, and commences another, fresh eggs are not 

 unfrequently found as late as the beginning of August. The eggs, four or five in number, are 

 pale French-white with faint grey shell-patches, marbled and clouded with olivaceous brown, and 

 to some extent spotted and speckled with deep brown. In size they measure from ^§ by f^j inch 



to M b y lo inch - 



Mr. Benzon informs me that in Denmark he has taken, not unfrequently, very light, almost 

 white varieties, but that he has never found any tinged with rufous. The eggs of the present 

 species can, he adds, be always distinguished from those of the Blackcap by being less glossy and 

 having the greyish shell-markings, which are almost always wanting in those of the Blackcap ; 

 besides, the surface-spots are lighter in the eggs of the Garden- Warbler. 



Mr. Metcalfe, of Kendal, sends me the following note on the present species : — " It arrives 

 here seldom before the middle of May, and prefers groves and orchards ; but it may be heard far 

 more frequently than seen, as it loves to perch on the top of some tall tree embosomed by leaves, 



