CHAPTER XXXIX. 



The Whitethroat. 



Motacilla cinerea, Lin. ; Le Fauvette grise ou grisette, Buf. ; 

 Motacilla sylvia. 



Description and Character. — The Whitethroat is a neat, 

 delicate, and refined-looking bird, and has a pleasant, attractive 

 song. It is very cheerful and lively, and seems quite at home 

 in an aviary among other soft-billed birds of the Sylvidae 

 tribe, though it is best to keep it in a cage, and treat it in 

 all respects the same as the Nightingale. 



Like some others of the species, such as the Redbreast, it 

 is of a pugnacious disposition, especially during the breeding 

 season ; at this time it will attack birds twice its own size, 

 if they approach its nest too closely, and drive them away. 

 When the male bird is excited by anger, he erects the feathers 

 on his head, in the same manner as the Skylark does, and 

 puts himself in an attitude of defiance, ready to assail such 

 birds as venture too near his chosen habitation. 



In an aviary, they do not show so much pugnacity, but can 

 take their own part if attacked by other birds. 



An adult specimen measures 51in., the tail being 2|in. The 

 beak is brownish black ; the base of it is grey, and the lips 

 yellow. The irides are yellowish hazel. The head, neck, and 

 cheeks, are pale brownish grey, this colour being darkest on 

 the forehead. The back, lesser wing coverts, and tail, are 

 reddish brown, shaded with grey ; the rump is the same colour, 

 but paler and brighter. The throat is white ; the breast, upper 

 part of belly, and sides, reddish white ; and the vent, and lower 



