WHITE THROAT; 



539 



of considerable thickness. A few long horse hairs are wound neatly- 

 round the interior, along- with some finer grass. In several nests in my 

 possession, however, the hairs are in quantity sufficient to cover the 

 basket-work of grass from the eye, contrary to Latham's opinion, that 

 it is "not sufficient to form a covering." 1 Whence Mr. Bolton derived 

 the notion that the White Throat uses spiders' webs as a binding mate- 

 rial, I cannot imagine ; for out of some hundreds I have examined, and 

 twenty specimens now before me, I can detect nothing of this sort. It 

 is the rough reflexed prickles of the catch weed which binds the exte- 

 rior, and the hairs (probably glued with saliva) which keep the inside 

 in shape. The chief distinction which I have detected in the nests of 

 this species and of the babillard is, that the former for the most part 

 makes use of a few roots in lining, which the latter never does, while 

 it seems fonder than the former of working tufts of willow down into 

 the brim of the nest. Latham has given a very bad figure of the 

 babillard's nest, the worse also, as it agrees not with his own descrip- 

 tion.* 2 The eggs are four or five in number, of a greenish white, 

 speckled all over with light brown or ash-colour, in great variety as to 

 shade and thickness of sprinkling ; weight about thirty grains. 



It is proper in this place to remark, that we have more than once 

 killed a bird somewhat resembling the above ; weight and length the 

 same ; irides not so yellow ; the whole upper parts rufous brown ; the 

 coverts of the wings and quills next the body deeply margined with 

 bright rufous ; throat and belly silvery white ; breast inclining to brown, 

 darker on the sides ; outer feathers of the tail like the above. The 

 common White Throat feeds on insects and berries, frequenting our 

 gardens in the summer for the sake of cherries and currants. 



*" A very lively and interesting species," says Sweet, " and one of 

 the easiest preserved ; its song also, in my opinion, cannot be surpassed 

 by any bird whatever ; it is both lively, sweet, and loud, and consists 

 of a great variety of notes. One that I at present possess will sing for 

 hours together against a nightingale, now in the beginning of January, 

 and it will not suffer itself to be outdone. When the nightingale 

 raises its voice, it does the same, and tries its utmost to get above it : 

 sometimes, in the midst of its song, it will run up to the nightingale, 

 and stretch out its neck, as if in defiance, and whistle as loud as it can, 

 staring it in the face : if the nightingale attempts to peck it, away it is 

 in an instant, flying round the aviary, and singing all the time. In a 



1 Gen. Hist, of Birds, vii. 48. See our figure, p. 15. 

 2 Architecture of Birds. Chapter on Basket-making Birds, p. 232. 



