WHITETHROAT. 



four or five in number, of a greeni sh white, speckled 

 all over with light brown, or ash colour, in great 

 variety as to shade and thickness of sprinkling. 



In the nesting season, the Whitethroat keeps 

 much in the retirement of its hedges and bushes, 

 not leaving the cultivated grounds, but choosing 

 those parts of them where the cover is thickest or 

 most retired. Towards the latter part of summer 

 they throng to the gardens, where they levy contri- 

 butions on all the early small fruits. In the mar- 

 ket-gardens especially, where these are interspersed 

 with hedge-rows and patches of tangled brake, 

 they do a great deal of mischief ; but still, if the 

 service which they have previously rendered by 

 destroying the caterpillars, which are their princi- 

 pal food, be fairly thrown into the other scale, it 

 is probable that the balance of good is on their 

 side.* 



There are no birds (says the Honourable Mr. 

 Herbert) less shy and less pugnacious than the 

 Whitethroats. They are amicable in the highest 

 degree. The Blackcap is, on the contrary, shy 

 and wary : while it is singing, it is always on the 

 watch, and shifting its place so as to avoid being 

 seen ; but the Whitethroat sings boldly close 

 to a person looking at it ; and although White 

 deprecates its song, Mr. Herbert thinks it is only 

 to be surpassed by the Blackbird and the Thrush, — 

 except, of course, the matchless Nightingale, with 

 whose song all comparison of melody in this world 



* Feathered Tribes of the British Islands. 



