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THE CHIFF-CHAFF. 
very retiring habits it wonld be a well-known bird, and many persons have been charmed by 
its melody, who have no idea of the bird from whose small throat it proceeds. 
The food of the Gfarden Whitethroat is mostly of an insect nature, but the bird is not 
averse to various fruits, and in the autumn often becomes rather obnoxious to the gardener. 
The nest is not unlike that of the common Whitethroat, and is placed in similar localities ; 
a low thick bush being the favorite spot, although on occasions the bird will build its house 
among thick herbage, or even among heavy ivy leaves. The nest is made quite as loosely as 
that of the preceding species, and is composed of grasses, fine fibrous roots, moss, hair, and 
lichens, and the interior is softly lined with hair and other similar substances. The eggs are 
greenish- white, covered with many spots and blotches of light brown and ashen-green. 
By its color the Garden Whitethroat can be distinguished from its relative, as the upper 
surface is of a more delicate brown, and the abdomen of a purer white than the throat, which 
is tinged with a pale brown. The under wing-coverts are pale buff, the beak is dark brown, 
and the eyes are beautiful hazel. The total length of this species nearly reaches six inches. 
The tiny Chief-Chafe, one of the smallest of the European birds, is the first Warbler 
that makes its appearance in the north, and that cheers with its pretty little song and its 
light, lively actions. 
The curious name of this bird has been derived from its cry, which bears some resem- 
blance to the words “ Chiff-chaff! Chery-churry ! ” often repeated. This little song is some- 
times uttered while the bird is on the wing, but generally when it is perched on some con- 
venient bough of a lofty tree. The localities which it most frequents are woods and hedge- 
rows, and so lively is it in temper, 
that its pleasant little voice is often 
heard before the trees have put forth 
their verdure. It is a very useful 
bird, as it feeds almost wholly on 
insects, and on its first arrival saves 
many a grand oak-tree from destruc- 
tion by devouring the caterpillars 
of the well-known green oak moth, 
which roll up the leaves in so curious 
a manner, and come tumbling out of 
their green houses at the slightest 
alarm. Gnats and other small flies 
are a diet much in favor with the 
Chiff-chaff ; and one of these birds 
that had been captured and tamed 
was accustomed to dash to the ceil- 
ing of the room in which it was 
kept, and to snatch from thence the 
flies as they settled after their fashion 
on the white surface. 
This little bird has been seen in 
northern parts of Europe as early as 
the twelfth of March, and it remains 
in those countries as late as the middle of October, so that it is the first to arrive and the last to 
depart from there of all the European Warblers. 
The nest of the Chiff-chaff is something like that of the common wren, being a rounded 
structure with a hole in the side, through which the bird obtains admission into the interior. It 
is seldom placed at any great elevation from the ground, and is often built upon the soil itself 
at the foot of some overshadowing bush. The materials of which it is composed are generally 
leaves, grasses, and moss, and the interior is lined with a warmer bed of soft feathers. The eggs 
&re five or six in number, and their color is whitish -gray, speckled with a few spots of dark red, 
CHIFF-CHAFF, OR LESSER PETTICHAPS .— Sylvia cinerea. 
