SONG BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



ward to breed, not to a warmer climate. In the 

 month of September 1796, (says Montagu,) we 

 observed many of these birds about Falmouth in 

 Cornwall, frequenting the furzy hills, and killed 

 several from that time to the 2l4th of December, 

 when a sudden fall of snow, that covered the ground 

 for some time, drove them from that part. 



It has been found, however, to breed in this 

 country ; Montagu having discovered a nest on the 

 17th of July, on a large furze common. It was 

 placed among the dead branches of the thickest 

 furze, about two feet from the ground, slightly 

 fastened between the main stems, not in the fork. 



The nest is composed of dry vegetable stalks, 

 particularly goose-grass, mixed with the tender dead 

 branches of furze, not sufficiently hardened to be- 

 come prickly : these are put together in a very 

 loose manner, and intermixed very sparingly with 

 wool. In one of the nests which he discovered was 

 a single partridge's feather. The lining is equally 

 sparing, for it consists only of a few dry stalks of 

 some fine species of carex, without a single leaf 

 of the plant, and only two or three of the panicles. 

 This thin flimsy structure, which the eye pervades 

 in all parts, much resembles the nest of the White- 

 throat. The eggs are also somewhat similar to 

 those of the Whitethroat, but rather less, weigh- 

 ing only twenty-two grains : like the eggs of that 

 species, they possess a slight tinge of green, and 

 are fully speckled all over with olivaceous brown, 

 and cinerous, on a greenish white ground ; the 



