1 83 A'ESTS A.VD EGGS Of AVSTKALIAN BIRDS. 



O/ixervafirins. — The Reed Warbler is an intensely interesting bii-d, 

 I'anging down Eastern Australia to Victoria and Tasmania, but coming 

 and going mysteriously in the southern parts of its habitat. 



Besides bemg a migrant, the Reed Warbler, as its name indicates, is 

 a meiTv and cheerful songster, not only by day but by night, its song 

 being quite canaiy-like. As the bird betakes itself to sedgy sides of 

 rivers and to reeds and nishes of swamps, one cannot always see the birds 

 in such secluded coverts, but their presence or arrival may always be 

 ascertained by hearing their loud merry wai-bles. 



When I first came to Armadale, not far distant from my house there 

 used to be an abandoned brick quan-y, partially filled with water, wherein 

 flags giew. Here one or two pau's of Reed Warblers found a secm-e 

 retreat. Often have I loved to listen to their lively voices, especially at 

 evening, and sometimes through the night. 



The following are some promiscuous dates of the arrival of Reed 

 Warblers in the vicinity of Melbourne : — 



Season 1886. — Birds heard at Yarraville, 1st September. On the 21st, 

 others heard at Caulfield swamp, where none were present the previous 

 day. 



Season 1890. — First birds heard at " Como," on the Yarra, end of 

 August or beginning of September. 



Season 1895. — Birds heai-d on the Yarra, 22nd September. 



Season 1896. — First heard on the YaiTa, near Toorak, 9th September. 



Season 1897. — Fu'st heard on the Yarra, near Toorak, 9th August. 



In the Bendigo district, Dr. W. MacgiUivi-ay has noted the Reed 

 Warbler early in August. 



My data referring to the Reed Warblers' departure are not so com- 

 plete. I recollect examining one nest containing young, apparently not 

 many days old, on the 28th Januaiy (1895). Nine days afterwards, or 

 on the 6th February, they had flown. February is the month the 

 Warblers commence to retire northward. It was noticed in the neigh- 

 boiu-hood of Toorak, that dmmg the second week of that month (in 1897) 

 the birds left the river for the shiiibs in the gardens close by before finally 

 taking theu' departure, which was appai'ently accomphshed by the last 

 week of the month. 



On a balmy summer day it is a glorious experience for the enthusiastic 

 egg collector, after donning a pair of old pants and boots which will 

 as readily let water out as in, to walk through the sedges of a swamp. 

 He quickly gets lost to view in the tall ranks of thick reeds, which 

 he parts with fij-st one hand and then the other, proceeding slowly. 

 not unfrequently floimdering into a hole, and consequently finding liimself 

 suddenly up to his arm-pits in the coohng water. Now and again a nest 

 is espied, about two feet above the siu-face of the water, built on a few 

 upright flags, and containing two, three, or four, as the case may be, of 

 the familiar gi-ejish, brown-mottled eggs. 



On the margins of the YaiTa, near Melbourne, some of the Reed 

 Warblers, on account of the absence of reeds, suspend their nests in the 

 drooping gi'een tresses of willows that hang over the river. As a rale, 

 the Reed Warbler builds over water, but instances are known where nests 

 have been obsei-\'ed on diy land, perhaps fifty paces from water, in 

 herba£;e, such as flowering stocks of dock-weed, &c. 



