THE SEDGE WARBLER 65 



the dawn arrives a marked falling-off takes place. 

 No one unacquainted with the song of this species 

 can ever realize its beauty or its infinite variety, 

 from a written description ; it must be heard to be 

 appreciated. Our observations of this species show 

 that it does not sing much during the hottest part of 

 the day, neither does it sing during cold windy 

 weather, unless disturbed. The song is most per- 

 sistently uttered at night, and is particularly charm- 

 ing about the middle of May — on the fine, warm, 

 moonlight nights of that glorious month of flowers 

 and foliage. Sometimes the bird may be heard 

 singing high up in trees near its swampy haunts, 

 and occasionally flies from the topmost branches to 

 the reeds below, warbling all the way. In far more 

 cases than we have here space to specialize has the 

 song of the Sedge Warbler been attributed to the 

 Nightingale ; and this generally happens in districts 

 where the latter bird is either rare or entirely absent 

 — a confusion which has led to much popular error 

 in the distribution of the more local species. A 

 person familiar with the song of both birds can, of 

 course, never fall into such an error, for the notes 

 of the Nightingale are incomparably the sweetest. 

 The song of the Sedge Warbler is continued well 

 on the summer, but falls off as soon as the eggs are 

 hatched, and ceases prior to the moult, not to be 

 regained until the following year. 



The Sedge Warbler pairs soon after its arrival, if 



