The Fauvette. 



285 



near the ground. In England it frequents thickets, and is seldom 

 seen out of covert, making its nest near the ground, among 

 brambles or thorns. The nest is composed of dried grass, root 

 fibre, herbs, and moss, and is lined with hair or down. The hen 

 laj's from four to six eggs, of a greyish white colour, irregularly 

 marked with brown and black spots ; she incubates fourteen days, 

 and the young leave the nest when about nineteen days old. The 

 Fauvette is a bird of passage, and arrives in this country about 

 the latter part of April, leaving again about the end of August, 

 or early in September. 



Methods of Captuee. — These birds, being naturally wild and 

 suspicious, are difficult to capture. In the spring, however, they 

 may be taken in gentlemen's gardens or pleasure grounds 

 which they frequent, by clearing a piece of ground in a quiet, 

 secluded spot, and baiting it with ants' eggs or caterpillars, first 

 placing limed twigs round about, and using a Whitethroat in a 

 cage as a decoy. 



Food and Teeatment. — In the spring, the Fauvette feeds on 

 the small insects to be found on trees, plants, and shrubs. It is 

 very partial to strawberries, raspberries, and cherries, but will eat 

 ripe sweet fruit of any kind. In confinement, it may be fed in 

 the same manner as the Whitethroat. 



Eeaeing the Younq. — The young ought to be secured at the 

 age of nine or ten days, and fed and treated the same as young 

 Nightingales. 



Distinguishing Maeks of Cock and Hen. — The female is 

 rather smaller than the male, and paler in the various colours 

 of the plumage. The brown on the upper parts of the body 

 of the hen is greyer, and more dingy in appearance, than that 

 on the cock. 



The throat and belly of the male bird are almost silvery 

 white, slightly tinged with pale red. In the female, the under 

 parts of the body are paler and duller, and the tinge of red is 

 scarcely perceptible. 



Song. — The Fauvette, though not naturally a good songster, 

 is a great imitator, and will learn and repeat the notes of 

 various other birds, including those of the Hedge Accentor, the 

 Song Thrush, the Swallow, the Blackbird, &c. It usually 

 sings in a thick bush, obscured from view, and ceases on hearing 

 anyone approach. When a male Fauvette is obtained young, 

 and reared under a Nightingale or a Blackcap, it makes a good 



