112 LESSER WHITETHROAT. 
The song is short and of small compass, being without any 
very great variety, and the ordinary note somewhat harsh, 
in the estimation of most; at times, however, a faint and 
low inward warble is audible, often continued, almost without 
any cessation, for several minutes. ‘The song generally ends 
with the harsher shake, which is loud and shrill. It is usually 
uttered from the depth of the brake or cover, though ocea- 
sionally from the summit of a bush or branch of a tree, and 
also on the wing. It is heard till nearly the end of July. 
A ‘sip, sip, sip’ is frequently introduced; the common note, 
however, is the only one that is heard on the wing, unless 
when the bird is immediately about to alight, and then the 
pleasing warble just now spoken of is sometimes to be heard: 
a low gurgling sound is on some occasions emitted also by 
this bird. 
The nest, which is begun about three weeks after the 
arrival of the birds, is of slight construction, and is made of _ 
dry grass and a little wool, or moss but rarely, lined with 
small fibres, roots, and hairs; it is rather loosely interwoven, 
and is bound together with spiders’ webs and such like ma- 
terials. It is sometimes placed among the herbage on a bank, 
as well as in the lower part of a hedge, or in some low 
shrub—a nut tree, gooseberry bush, blackthorn, broom, wood- 
bine, and among briers and brambles, generally at a height, 
in the latter, of about four or five feet from the ground, but 
sometimes as much as six, seven, eight, or even ten. 
The eggs are of a greenish white colour, spotted, most 
numerously at the larger end, and sometimes in the way of 
a zone, with small dots and patches of brown and light grey. 
James Dalton, Esq., of Worcester College, Oxford, has for- 
warded me a specimen for the use of this work. 
Incubation lasts from twelve to fourteen days, commencing 
about the 20th. of May. ‘Two, and sometimes even possibly 
three, broods are reared in the season. | 
The young birds in their nesting plumage nearly resemble 
the old ones, but the colour of the head and the back are 
more uniform. 
Male; length, five inches and a quarter; bill, brownish 
black; the base of the lower mandible, brownish yellow; iris, 
yellowish white; it is said to become whiter with age, and in 
some specimens to be perfectly white. Head on the crown, 
brownish grey, darker than the back; neck and nape, brownish 
grey; chin, throat, and breast, white, the latter tinged with 
