were dispersed over the country. Several pairs breed annually in our homesteads, and frequently enter our

gardens in search of food. ‘They delight to mob cats, and ne
Zast Lothian imagine that this bird is mocking or laughing at them as it
herefore persecute it at all times, even more virulently

ver cease their alarm-note till their foe retires.

The peasant-boys in this part of ]

tumbles over the hedges and bushes in the lane, and t

than they do sparrows. When the currants, rasp- and gooseberries are ripe, the Whitethroats flock to our
: ee.

gardens, and commit great havoc among those fruits. . .

That the Whitethroat forms an interesting object for the aviary we learn from the following note on this

species, by the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, which I transcribe from Bennett’s edition of White’s ‘ Natural

History of Selborne ’:—
“ There are no birds less shy and less pugnacious.
ame cage, I never saw an instance of the least dispute between them ;

They are amicable in the highest degree ; and having
kept four or five males together m the s
and one of them having been taken from the nest to try if it would breed with a hen Blackcap, died the next
day, having, from vexation at finding itself separated from them, neglected to feed itself. I have seen the
eldest of a nest give food to the youngest when they were just beginning to feed themselves. ‘Those which
are caught become tame very quickly ; but such as are reared from the nest are the very perfection of
amiability, and will come out the moment the cage-door is opened, and have not the least fear of being
handled. In a room the song of the Whitethroat is very pleasing, and the young ones will sometimes learn
some of the Nightingale’s notes ; and their excessive familiarity and gentleness and their healthy consti-
tution make them, to my mind, the most pleasing bird that can be kept in a cage. Their general food
should be ground hempseed and bread scattered together, and a little German paste given dry. Insects,
and anything that is not salt that man eats, may be given to them in small quantities as a treat; but
much variety only makes them grow too Tae

The nest is a slight-built, deep, and cup-shaped structure, outwardly composed of dry grasses and similar
materials, with a little hair neatly arranged as a lining  Macgillivray describes a nest found in Scotland as
being loosely but elegantly constructed, the exterior being composed chiefly of withered stems of Galum
Aparine, with slender and brittle or flexible stalks of some fine grass and a little hair, all neatly arranged,
but, from the unpliant nature of the goose-grass, which bends only in an angular manner, leaving large
vacuities. The lining is of finer filaments, with hair of various kinds, and neatly smoothed.

The eggs are generally four or five in number, of a stone-white, spotted and freckled with olive-brown,
particularly at the larger end.

The figures are of the natural size, and the plant is the common Dewberry (Rubus cesius, Linn.).