54 OUR RARER BIRDS 



It is the same amongst the willow trees and osier beds ; and 

 what is worthy of remark is, that in places where the reeds or 

 bushes are scattered no birds are to be met with. They love 

 the densest situations, and can rarely be sur^Drised in the open. 

 I do not remember to have ever once seen a Eeed Warbler 

 on the ground, or a couple of yards away from its favourite 

 cover. We cannot help admiring, too, how the sombre brown 

 dress of this little creature harmonises with the decayed 

 yellow leaves and the brown stems of the reeds, or how beauti- 

 fully his body is formed for gliding quickly between the net- 

 work of quivering stems. The breeding season of the Eeed 

 Warbler depends a good deal on the state of the weather. If 

 the summer is an early one, the birds begin by the end of 

 May ; but if, as is often the case, a long spell of cold weather 

 sets in about this time, the operations are suspended or post- 

 poned till the first half of June. Pairing appears to take 

 place soon after the birds' arrival in this country, and the 

 various nesting-sites are selected and appropriated with much 

 noisy quarrelling and scolding. The nest of this bird is by 

 no means difficult to find. All we want is to be sure that the 

 birds frequent the locality, and a little patience will soon 

 enable us to discover their remarkably pretty homes. The 

 nests are made at various heights from the water, sometimes 

 only a few inches, at others as many feet. Three or four reeds 

 are selected as supports for the nest, the walls of which are 

 woven round them ; and when in the willows or osiers two or 

 three twigs are utilised in a similar fashion. The nest is made 

 principally of dry sedgy grass stalks, broad dead leaves of the 

 reeds, and rootlets. In some nests a little moss, or a scrap or 

 two of vegetable down is mixed with the other materials. 

 The lining is almost exclusively composed of very fine dry 

 roots. Some nests are very elongated, and have a considerable 

 foundation for the cup which contains the eggs ; in others 

 much of this lower structure is dispensed with. The old birds 



