525 



foliage ; but near the nest it may always be approached with ease, and hops uneasily about 

 amongst the branches only a few yards distant, uttering a cry like pi-ti-u-y." Baron De Selys 

 remarks that it mocks the Greenfinch, and mimics the call-notes of the Swallow, Golden Oriole, 

 and Wood-Chat. It is, he says, quarrelsome, courageous, active, and, excepting when singing, 

 always on the move. It feeds entirely on insects, which it seizes on the wing like a Flycatcher. 



Its nest is one of the most artistic and neatest structures of any constructed by the Warblers. 

 It is usually placed on a low tree, or, according to Baron De Selys, on a lilac bush or a low fruit- 

 tree, and is cup-shaped, the external portion being composed of straws and fine rootlets bound 

 together with a little moss and wool, and covered with small paper-like shreds of birch bark, 

 which are worked in the surface with spiders' webs and the spittle of the bird, forming a very 

 close and firm structure ; the lining consists of fine plant-stems and a few horse-hairs. I have 

 before me a nest obtained near Christiania, in Norway, in July by Mr. Collett, from which I 

 have taken the above description. Its eggs, usually four or five in number, closely resemble 

 those of H. polyglotta in colour and markings, but are, as a rule, larger in size ; they are dull 

 rose-pink in colour, sometimes with a faint brownish tinge, and are speckled with purplish 

 brown, almost black, dots and spots. In size they measure from f§ by ff to f^ by f§ inch. In 

 Northern Germany and Norway the eggs are deposited about the middle of June, or from then 

 to the third week in that month. 



The specimens figured are an adult male from Malta, and a young bird just ready to leave 

 the nest from the environs of Brussels, both being in my collection. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a. Tjubuk, E. Ural, August 16th, 1872 (Meves). b, c. Malta, May 1863 (C. A. Wright), d, e, 6,f,ff, $. 

 Malta, September 1862 (C. A. W.). h, pullus. Near Brussels, Belgium (A. Dubois). 



E litis. Brit. Beg. 

 a. Europe (Verreaux). b, c. Antwerp (Sharpe). d. Objimbinque, S. Africa (Andersson). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders, 

 a, 6 . Nassau, b, 6 . Westphalia (Schluter) . c. Palermo. 



