EEED-WARBLEll 79 



The late Eev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, writing in 1844, 

 also states that it is connnon in Kent. 



The following excellent account of the habits and 

 nidificationof the Reed-Warbler appeared in the Zoologist 

 in 1848, written by Mr. AV. H. Thomas :— 



" These merry, courageous little birds are common 

 within a few miles of London. I have found them in 

 abundance in the reed-beds on the banks of the Thames, 

 between Erith and Greenwich. In seeking them you 

 must not be afraid of labour in pushing your way through 

 reeds ; you must likewise take care to get as firm a 

 footing as possible, for many of these places are very 

 treacherous, and I have more than once suddenly sunk 

 with one leg into a deep hole, and liave had some 

 difficulty in extricating myself. When hunting in such 

 places I generally have a stout hedge-stake or clothes- 

 prop to try the soundings with. 



" From the time that the reeds are half grown until the 

 latter end of July these birds frequent them in abundance, 

 and their nests, with eggs or young, may be readily 

 found. I have taken the young as late as August 13. 

 They continue about the reeds until the middle or end 

 of this month, when I believe they migrate, with the 

 exception of an occasional late-hatched bird. 



" The food of the Reed-Warbler principally consists of 

 small spiral-shaped shell-snails, which occur in great 

 plenty in reed-beds, often completely covering the lower 

 part of the reed-stems ; they also eat beetles, and a 

 variety of small insects. 



" In ditches, where reeds grow thickly, and the sides 

 have plenty of stunted thorn bushes intermingled with 

 brambles and rank grass, the Reed- and Sedge-Warblers 

 {Calamoherpe ariindinacea) , are close and sociable neigh- 



