EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 195 



Graf Casimir Wodzicki, describing its habits in Galicia* writes : — 

 " The nest is carefully concealed amongst the sedges {Car ex), and 

 is placed upon a heap of tangled blades, usually six inches, but 

 sometimes two or three feet above the water. It is composed of 

 flat leaves of broadish grass, generally of sweet-grass {Glyceria), 

 carefully woven together, the narrowest leaves being chosen for 

 the lining. It is a marvellously neat structure, very deep, some- 

 times deeper than the inside diameter." 



The eggs vary in number from four to six. They are French- 

 white or pale-buff in ground-colour, thickly sprinkled over the 

 entire surface with ashy-brown spots, most numerous at the 

 larger end of the egg, where they usually form an obscure zone. 

 The pale violet-grey underlying markings are numerous; and on 

 some eggs there are a few very dark, irregular, hair-like streaks. 

 The eggs of Savi's Warbler somewhat closely approach those of 

 the Grasshopper Warbler, but are always browner. They vary 

 in length from - 8 to - 75 inch (Professor Newton gives a mea- 

 surement of 0"84), and from 0'6 to 0"55 inch in breadth. 



THE SEDGE WAEBLEE. 

 {A crocephalus phragmitis.) 



Plate, 52, Fig. 5. 



This well-known bird is a common summer visitor to nearly 

 every part of our islands, breeding more or less abundantly in 

 every county. On the Continent the Sedge Warbler has a some- 

 what extensive range, being found in Norway as far north as lat. 

 70°, in Sweden and North Russia to lat. 68°, and in the valleys 

 of the Ob and the Yenisei to lat. 67°. 



Few of our British nests are so unassuming as that of the 

 Sedge Warbler's. It is a small and simple little structure, not 

 very deep, made of dry grass-stems, portions of sedgy plants, 

 sometimes lined with a few hairs, sometimes with scraps of vege- 

 table down. It is occasionally placed as high as ten feet from 

 the ground, but more frequently at a height of one or two feet, 

 and rarely on the ground itself. 



The eggs of the Sedge Warbler are five or six in number, and 

 differ considerably in colour. One type is stone-colour, with pale 



* (Journ. Orn., 1853, Extra-Heft, p. 49.) 



