EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 197 



water. The nest is deep and cup-shaped, having an inside 

 diameter of about two inches and a half, and being of about the 

 same depth. Outside it measures about five inches in height, with 

 an outside diameter of four inches. Occasionally the leaves of 

 water-plants are interwoven in the nest, and sometimes moss, 

 wool, a feather or two, and downy seeds, such as those of the 

 clematis and cotton-grass. 



The number of eggs is generally four or five, but frequently 

 six. In colour they almost exactly resemble those of the Marsh 

 Warbler, but are twice the size. The ground-colour is a pale 

 blue, sometimes approaching green, and often tinged with grey. 

 Few eggs are more boldly or richly spotted. Large blotches of 

 olive-brown or russet-brown, sometimes pale, but occasionally 

 approaching black, are distributed pretty evenly over the surface, 

 and are relieved by minute spots of the same colour and by the 

 underlying blotches, which show pale through the ground-colour. 

 The eggs vary considerably in size ; the largest in my collection 

 measures 1*0 by 0'7 inch, and the smallest 0"8 by 63 inch. 



THE REED WARBLER. 

 (Acrocephalus arundinaceus.)* 



Plate 52, Fig. 8. 



The Reed Warbler is common enough in the south of England, 

 but in the north it is very rare. It is found in suitable localities 

 in summer throughout Europe, south of lat. 58°, and in Asia Minor, 

 Palestine, South-west Siberia, Turkestan, Persia, Baluchistan, 

 and probably in Afghanistan. 



The materials of the nest are principally very fine roots, a 

 piece or two of worsted, a feather, a little moss and some dry 

 grass. The lining is entirely of fine roots. 



The eggs vary very little, but some clutches are much darker 

 and more profusely spotted than others. The ground-colour is 

 a pale greenish blue, and the spots or blotches greenish brown, 

 more or less confluent at the larger ends, the underlying spots 

 being paler and greyer than the others. Some eggs show a few 

 streaky spots, almost black. They vary from 0.78 to 07 inch in 

 length, and from 0'55 to 0"5 inch in breadth, and are from three 

 to five in number. 



* Acrocephalus strepems (V.)— Saunders, Manual, p. 71 ; Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 231. 



