CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
43 
more decided partiality for this kind of food than others. 
Care should be taken to let whitethroats in confinement have 
access to plenty of fine gravel, of which they swallow a con- 
siderable quantity ; they like to bathe two or three times a 
day, and in warm weather should be allowed to do so. The 
diseases to which this bird are subjected are pretty much the 
same as those of the blackcap ; it is a very desirable species, 
as it appears to be little afiected by the cold, and continues 
in sonff nearly all the year. A male bird which had been 
in confinement eight or nine years, continued still as lively, 
and sung as well as ever. The eggs of the whitethroat are 
of a greenish white, spotted with olive-green, and dark ash- 
gray. The nest is built near the ground, among roots of 
trees and tall grass. 
TliE BABILLARD, 
Sometimes called the whitebreasted or babbling warbler, 
or lesser whitethroat, abides in this conntry from about the 
middle of April to that ot September. It is about five inches 
in length, with a long, sharp, bluish black beak. The pre- 
vailing colours of the plumage are gray and brown, more or 
less tinged with red : the outermost feather of each wing has 
a wedge-shaped white spot, which is somewhat characteristic 
of the species, although it is not always to be found. There 
is nothing in the appearance of the sexes to distinguish them, 
except that the head and feet of the female are rather the 
lightest in colour ; but this difference is so slight that it is 
not noticeable unless the birds are together. 
The favourite haunts of the babillard are gardens, and 
woods in which there is plenty of thick underwood, and its 
nest must be sought for in gooseberry or white-thorn 
bushes, young fir-trees, or low thick shrubs. It is 
made of fine roots and grass stalks, and sometimes lined, 
says Bechstein, with swine's brisiles. We have never seen 
or heard of one so lined in this country, although 
we know that hair is sometimes used. The eggs, usually 
four or five in number, are of a grayish white, spotted ana 
patched with light ^^ay and brown. Insects, larvse, and 
small fruits, are the food of this shy and active little bird in 
a wild state ; may be captured in the same way as the 
Fauvette, or in severe weather, by clearing the snow from a 
