80 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



bonus, and I have frequently found the nests of both 

 species within a dozen yards of each other. 



" The Eeed-Warbler's nest is suspended from the stems 

 of the reeds, although the outer branches of the thorn 

 bushes are often entangled with them. The Sedge- 

 Warbler's nest is always fixed in the low thorn bushes, 

 and out of many dozens that I have found, I have never 

 met with one fixed to the reeds, unless a straj^ stem 

 growing through tlie bushes has now and then been, as 

 it were, accidentally intertwined from its being placed 

 on an outer branch, but even this very rarely happens. 

 In other places, where reeds have been scarce and not 

 sufficiently thick to hide the nest, by the side of ditches 

 and near gardens, I have' found the nest of the Reed-bird 

 placed in closely branched elder trees. 



" The nest of the Reed- Warbler is often elegantly built, 

 and generally fixed to three or four reed-stems. It is 

 composed of slender blades of grass, interwoven with 

 the reed-tops and the dry spongy substance which covers 

 many of the marsh ditches ; also dry duckweed, and 

 here and there a long piece of sedge is wound securely 

 around it ; the lining is of the finer flowering stems of 

 grass, intermixed with a little horse hair. It is a deep 

 and solid structure, so that the eggs cannot easily roll 

 out ; it is firmly fastened to the reeds in tide ditches 

 and rivers, at the height of three or four feet from the 

 water, but in still ditches often not more than a foot. 



" The eggs are generally five, rather larger than those 

 of the Sedge-bird, and are of a greenish tint, thickly 

 blotched with darker ash-colour at the larger end, the 

 smaller end being spotted with light brown ; the 

 markings are of different sizes, and sometimes vary in 

 the same nest. In windy weather, when wading 



