This bird may be considered as one of the tenderest of the tribe, being very susceptible of cold. It is one of my greatest favourites. One that I bred from the nest by hand, learnt the song of the white-throat, the redstart, willow-wren, nightingale, and also that of a missel-thrush, which it frequently heard singing in a garden near by; of this latter song it was so fond, that we were frequently obliged to put our favourite out of the room, not being able to bear its loud notes; it was certainly the best bird I ever kept of any kind, singing nearly the whole year through, and varying its song continually; the only fault was its strong voice. At last, our favourite was turned out of its cage by a mischievous servant on a cold winter day, when we were from home for about an hour, and we could not entice it back; it most probably died of the cold, or took its flight to a warmer region. I scarcely entertain any hopes of ever getting such another; the food of the present species is precisely the same as the last. MR. SWEET'S ACCOUNT OF THE STONECHAT. This, like the preceding, is generally to be found on hills and commons, harbouring chiefly amongst the furze bushes, and feeds, as far as I have observed, entirely on insects. It is not so tender as the whinchat, some few of them occasionally stopping in this country all the winter. It feeds, when wild, on small beetles, flies, as also all sorts of butterflies, moths, caterpillars, woodlice, and various other insects. In confinement their food must be the same as the whinchat's. They soon become very tame, and if bred up from the nest will learn the notes of other birds, which are in general better than their own. Their own song, though loud, is very short, but they have a strong voice to repeat the notes of another bird. THE WHITE-THROAT. [Illustration] Sylvia cinerea, BECHSTEIN; Le Fauvette grise ou Grisette, BUFFON; Die gemeine Grasmücke, BECHSTEIN. This bird is five inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two and three-quarters. The beak, five lines long, is dusky above and greyish beneath, with the corners and interior of the throat yellow; the iris is greyish brown; the shanks are brownish flesh-coloured, and ten lines high; the head is ash-grey: the cheeks, neck, back, rump, tail-coverts and lesser wing-coverts, are also ash-grey, but tinged with brown, deeper on the back than elsewhere; the throat and belly are fine white. The female, rather smaller and lighter, rust-coloured on the wings, has not a fine white throat like the male. HABITATION.--When wild the white-throat is spread through Europe. They leave us the beginning of October, and are then observed to retire from bush to bush, and from hedge to hedge. They reappear towards the middle of April, fluttering about the bushes in the fields, the brambles, thickets, underwood of the low mountains, and the orchards, running about very swiftly.