52 



BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



a spray of bramble or sallow some feet above the marshes, 

 " grinding " with their heads set up straight, and tails hang- 

 ing straight down ; for you will find as you approach, the shy 

 bird drops on to a lower bramble, and finally, as you draw 



nearer, disappears in 

 the stuff. 

 \h> \ / ' Butyoumayoftener 



"A\ W ^ _. I see the young birds, 



for though they cannot 

 fly out of the stuff, an 

 active man can fall 

 suddenly upon them 

 and catch them ; yet 

 it is a difficult feat, 

 and an impossible feat 

 when they are fully 

 fledged, for then they 

 leave the stuff for the 

 clumpy islets of sal- 

 low, bramble, and 

 sedge. But these birds 

 are oftener seen than 

 caught, because they 

 too have grown more 

 active and knowing, 

 and drop into the stufif 

 like stones, and are 

 lost to view. 



After harvest is over 

 they are seldom to 

 be heard "grinding," 

 though at daybreak 

 and throughout the summer they are to be heard daily. But 

 July is their nosiest month — July, when the marshes are gay 

 with ragged robin, blue oxytrip, meadow-sweet, cinquefoil, 

 red docks, and yellow rattle. Then at daybreak, as the mists 



YOUNG GRASSHOPPER-WARBLERS AND NEST. 



