KEED-WARBLER 81 



through the reed-beds, I have seen nests, with both old 

 and young in them, blown nearly to the surface of the 

 water ; but the birds fix their claws firmly to the sides 

 of the nest, with their heads to windward, and thus ride 

 as securely in their cradles as a sailor does in his cot or 

 hammock. 



" The nest is rarely blown down, for when the men 

 cut the reeds in winter they frequently find it firmly 

 fixed to the stalks, and call it the "reed-sparrow's." 



" As soon as the young ones quit the nest, which they 

 do early, they are very active, and nimblj^ hop up and 

 down the reed-stems, it matters not which end upper- 

 most ; they are very tenacious in their grasp, and very 

 noisy and clamorous for food. Both old and young, at 

 this time, utter a screaming note, something similar to 

 that of young Starlings, with now and then a deep, harsh 

 ' churr.' " 



Mr. Gould, in his Birds of Great Britain, 1879, says : 

 " It also frequents all the fluviatile districts of Kent, kc. 

 The incessant babbling made by numbers of this bird 

 and the Sedge-Warbler at sunrise on the banks of the 

 Thames is beyond my power to describe." 



During a bird's-nesting tour in Kent in 1875, Dr. A. G. 

 Butler found the " Reed- Warbler breeding at Tonge Mill, 

 Tonge, near Sittingbourne, on June 5 and 11 ; two forms 

 of eggs, one greenish, the other greyish, with a cuckoo's 

 egg in the latter." 



In his OrjiitJwIogical Notes from Bomney Marshy 

 Captain Boyd Alexander writes : " Many parts of the 

 large dykes and pools have dried up, and are now nothing" 

 more than thick reed-beds. In these reedy places the 

 Eeed-Warbler has found a home. Any sudden noise 

 will cause this bird to sing vehemently, while the foot- 

 6 



