Sylvia hortensis, LATHAM; La Fauvette, BUFFON; Die graue
Grasmücke, BECHSTEIN.
The length of this bird is five inches, two and a half of which belong
to the tail. The beak, five lines in length, and formed as in the
preceding, is brown below, light lead-colour above, and whitish within;
the iris is brownish grey; the feet, nine lines high, are strong, and
lead-colour; the upper part of the body is reddish grey, tinted slightly
with olive brown; the cheeks are darker, and round the eyes whitish; the
under part of the body, including the breast and sides, is light reddish
grey; the belly is white as far as the under coverts of the tail, which
are tinged with reddish grey; the knees are grey; the pen-feathers and
tail-feathers are brownish grey, edged with the colour of the back, and
spotted with white at the tips; the under coverts of the wings are
reddish yellow.
The female differs only in having the under part of the body, as far as
the breast, of a lighter colour.
HABITATION.--When wild, this bird, which is found all over Europe,
appears to prefer the groves and bushes which skirt the forests, as
well as orchards in their vicinity. He arrives some days before the
nightingale, and departs at the end of September.
In confinement he is treated like the blackcap, and, being more
delicate, must be furnished with a cage.
FOOD.--When wild the fauvette feeds on small caterpillars and the
other little insects which are found on the bushes, where he is
continually searching for them, uttering at the same time the
sweetest and softest song. After midsummer he appears very fond of
cherries; he eats the pulp up to the stone, and this causes his beak
to be at this season always stained; he also likes red currants and
elderberries.
In confinement he is so great an eater that if he is not caged he
hardly ever quits the feeding-trough of the nightingale. Though he is
more easily tamed than the blackcap, he seldom survives more than two
or three years, and the artificial food is no doubt the cause. He
appears very fond of the universal paste; but I have often observed
that it causes the feathers to fall off to so great a degree that he
becomes almost bare, and then I think he dies of cold rather than
from any other cause[89].
BREEDING.--The nest of the fauvette, placed in a hedge or bush of
white-thorn, at about three feet above the ground, is well built on
the outside with blades of grass and roots, and inside with the
finest and softest hay, very seldom with moss. The edges are fastened
with spiders' webs and dry cocoons. The female lays four or five
eggs, of a yellowish white, spotted all over with light ash grey and
olive brown. The young, which are hatched after fifteen days'
sitting, are no sooner fledged than they jump out of the nest the
moment it is approached.
DISEASES.--They are the same as in the blackcap; but the fauvette is
still more subject to the loss of its feathers. It fattens so fast
upon the first universal paste that it often dies from this cause.
MODE OF TAKING.--These birds may be caught during the whole of the
summer with nooses and springes baited with cherries, red currants,
or elderberries. They go also very readily to the water trap, from
seven to nine in the morning, and in the evening a little before
sunset.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--"Of the inhabitants of our woods," says Buffon,
"fauvettes are the most numerous and agreeable. Lively, nimble,
always in motion, they seem occupied only with play and pleasure; as
their accents express only joy, it is a pretty sight to watch them
sporting, pursuing, and enticing each other; their attacks are
gentle, and their combats end with a song."