392 
NOTES TO THE 
May and June, laying from four to five eggs, which vary con- 
siderably. One variety is of a greenish-white ground, with a few 
minute dots of ash and ochre ; another resembles a small egg of the 
garden warbler. They are mostly spotted with ash-umber, but a 
set of eggs I have entirely want them, and in colour and markings 
resemble those of the yellow wagtail, and one has even the streak 
so common to this species. They are without any suspicion of 
ash spots, but are of a pale yellow ground. They resemble in 
form the type eggs of the yellow wagtail. 
" The lesser wbitethroat {C. garrula) is also a summer visitor. 
It builds a more neat and compact nest than the larger species 
mentioned above. It is formed of the stems of goose grass, and 
is lined with fine roots, to which a little hair is sometimes added, 
and is somewhat of a cup shape. I have a nest in which a con- 
siderable portion of wool is used, which makes it one of the 
prettiest nests of the warblers I have seen, for in them excel- 
lence of song is not usually united with a neat and substantial 
nest. The eggs of the lesser whitethroat are spotted with burnt 
umber and ash. The ground is lighter, and the eggs have alto- 
gether a whiter appearance than those of the whitethroat. The 
ground is pale yellowish-white, but occasionally yellowish ash. 
They are from four to five in number, and are laid in May and 
June." 
City Spaerows, p. 103. — In November 1874, having some 
fishery business to transact in Billingsgate, I passed by St. Dun- 
stan's Church. Just by the church I heard a most extraordinary 
noise, which at first I imagined to proceed from a steam-pipe with 
a sore throat. I soon, however, found that the noise proceeded 
from thousands of birds which had settled on two trees in the 
churchyard. A boy passing by happened to hit a post with a 
stick ; the noise suddenly ceased, but a few seconds afterwards 
it began again as loud as ever. The birds were sparrows, and 
a man who was standing by told me that they generally 
arrived in large numbers at the end of September and took up 
their abode for the winter on the trees. They come there every 
evening at sundown till about the first or second week in 
February. They go off regularly every morning at daybreak 
to feed, and he thought that most of them went to Tower-hill and 
neighbouring streets to pick up the corn dropped from the nose- 
bags of the cab and van horses. Nobody is allowed, luckily, to 
disturb them. Lovers of birds should not lose the opportunity 
of hearing this gratuitous concert, which takes place every 
evening about sundown. I hear there are two trees in Sparrow- 
passage, close to the Angel, Islington, where the same thing 
