The Lesser Whitethroat, Sylvia curruca, is both in habits and plumage a much less sightly bird: the predominant reddish brown of the upper surface, and especially the rufous edging of the wingfeathers, that are so distinctive of its larger congener, are wanting, and the whole plumage above is of a smoky-grey, while the bird in its movements is never obtrusive, and it rather shuns than courts observation, generally keeping among the thickest foliage, whence its rather monotonous song, uttered especially in sultry weather, may be continually heard without a glimpse of the vocalist being presented. The nests of each of these species are very pretty works of art, firmly built of bents or other plant-stalks, and usually lined with horsehair; but the sides and bottom are often so finely woven as to be like open basket-work, and the eggs, splashed, spotted, or streaked with olive-brown, are frequently visible from beneath through the interstices of the fabric. This style of nest-building seems to be common to all the species of the genus Sylvia, as now restricted, and in many districts has obtained for the builders the name of “Hay-Jack,” quite without reference to the kind of bird which puts the nests together, and thus is also applied to the Blackcap, S. atricapilla, and the Garden-Warbler—this last being merely a book-name— S. salicaria (S. hortensis of some writers). The former of these deserves mention as one of the sweetest songsters of Great Britain, and fortunately it is very generally distributed in summer. To quote the praise bestowed upon it, in more than one passage, by Gilbert White would here be superfluous. The name Blackcap is applicable only to the cock bird, who further differs from his brown-capped mate by the purity of his ashy-grey upper plumage; but, notwithstanding the marked sexual difference in appearance, he takes on himself a considerable share of the duties of incubation, and has been declared by more than one writer to sing while so employed—a statement that seems hardly credible. All these four birds, as a rule, leave Great Britain at the end of summer to winter in the south. Two other species, one certainly belonging to the same genus, S. orphea, and the other, S. nisoria, a somewhat aberrant form, have occurred two or three times in Great Britain. The rest, numbering perhaps a dozen, must be passed over.

Nearly allied to Sylvia, if indeed it can be properly separated, is MelizoρhUus, which consists of two species, one of them the curious Dartford Warbler of English writers, M. undatus or provincialis. This is on many accounts a very interesting bird, for it is one of the few of its family that winter in England,—a fact the more remarkable when it is known to be migratory in most parts of the Continent. Its distribution in England is very local, and chiefly confined to the southern counties, where through causes very insufficiently known it has of late years become so scarce that its extermination seems probable. It is a pretty little dark-coloured bird, which here and there may be seen on furze-grown heaths from Kent to Cornwall. In spasmodic gesticulations the cock surpasses the Whitethroat; but these feats are almost confined to the pairing-season, and at other times of the year the bird’s habits are retiring. For a species with wings so feebly formed it has a wide range, inhabiting nearly all the countries of the Mediterranean seaboard, from Palestine to the Strait of Gibraltar, and thence along the west coast of Europe to the English Channel; but everywhere else it seems to be very local.

This may be the most convenient place for noticing the small group of Warblers belonging to the well-marked genus Hyρolais, which, though in general appearance and certain habits resembling the Phylloscopi (cf. [Willow] Wren), would seem usually to have little to do with those birds, and to be rather allied to the Sylviinae, if not to the Acrocephalinae (cf. Warbler). They have a remarkably loud song, and in consequence are highly valued on the continent of Europe, where two species at least spend the summer. One of them, H. icterina, has occurred more than once in the British Islands, and their absence as regular visitors is to be regretted. Among the minor characteristics of this little group is one afforded by their eggs, which are of a deeper or paler brownish pink, spotted with purplish black. Their nests are beautiful structures, combining warmth with lightness in a way that cannot be fully appreciated by any description.

A great number of other more or less allied forms, interesting as they are in various ways, cannot for want of space be here mentioned. (a. n.)