BABILLARD. 



little more quickly than the first; but while it 

 flits about in the hedge, bush, or brake, seldom 

 exposing itself to view, and then only for a moment, 

 it is not sparing of its voice ; and on that account 

 it has got the appellation of" Garrula," or Chatterer 

 ( Curruca garrula, Brisson). Mr. Rennie says it 

 prefers a garden, an orchard, or a plantation of 

 gooseberry or currant-bushes ; whence it is a fre- 

 quent inhabitant of market-gardens near London. 



It arrives in this country towards the latter end 

 of April or the beginning of May. It is easily 

 discovered (says Montagu) by its shrill note, which 

 is scarcely to be called a song, as it is only a re- 

 petition of the same whistling note (" actch, atsh," 

 as Bechstein gives it,) several times in a hurried 

 manner ; besides which, it has a soft pleasing song, 

 not to be heard unless very near. 



In its wild state, it feeds principally on flies 

 and other small insects ; it is also partial to several 

 sorts of fruit, such as cherries, plums, apples, pears, 

 and grapes. In confinement, it will soon become 

 tame and familiar, and will readily take to feed 

 on bread and milk, and also on bruised hemp-seed 

 and bread.* 



Its nest is not very unlike that of the Whitethroat. 

 It is concealed in a hedge or thick bush, rarely 

 in a tuft of annual herbage, formed of vegetable 

 fibres, loosely but not clumsily put together, and 

 lined with finer fibres, generally mixed with wool 

 or hair. Mr. Herbert says it is placed in the 



* Sweet's British Warblers. 



