56 OUR RARER BIRDS 



eggs prove a not very remote evolution of the birds in 

 each of these great groups severally from a common parent 

 form. 



The Eeed Warbler only rears one brood in the season, but 

 if its first nest is destroyed another is made and a fresh 

 clutch of eggs deposited. The food of this little bird is com- 

 posed very largely of insects which it catches by fluttering 

 after them as they fly over the water, or when they are at rest 

 on the stems of the reeds and willow twigs. In autumn it 

 may possibly feed on fruit, but I do not think it does so to 

 any great extent, being too much averse to leaving its reedy 

 cover. The young birds are fed on larvae of various kinds. 

 In some situations where reed beds are scarce, and the birds 

 live amongst the dense undergrowth by the pond-side, a visit 

 to the gardens adjoining is more readily undertaken. The 

 Eeed Warbler quits his haunts long before the winds of late 

 autumn break dowai the reeds and the tall herbage begins to 

 decay. Silently and stealthily he skulks away, and he is safe 

 in Africa almost before we miss him from his haunts in this 

 country. 



The researches of recent years have established the claim 

 of the Marsh Warbler {Acrocei^lialiis palustris) to be included 

 among our rarer birds. This little Warbler is most interesting 

 to British ornithologists ; and there can scarcely be a doubt 

 that every season it is confused with its near ally, the Eeed 

 AVarbler, whose habits we have just been studying. We have 

 here a remarkable instance of two perfectly distinct species 

 of birds resembling each other most closely in external 

 appearance, but differing widely in their geographical dis- 

 tribution, habits, song, and the colour of their eggs. A 

 similar but not quite so marked an instance is to be found 

 in the Song Thrush and the Eedw^ing. 



The Marsh Warbler has hitherto only been observed in 

 the southern counties of England, but doubtless farther 



