117 

 THE GEEAT SEDGE WAEBLER 



SALICARIA TURDOIDES. 



Upper plumage and tail reddish brown ; under, yellowish white, passing to a 

 deeper hue behind ; throat white ; a yellowish white streak above the eyes ; 

 bill yellow at the base, brown towards the tip. Length eight inches. Eggs 

 greenish, spotted with ash and dingy brown. 



The capture of a single specimen of this the largest of the 

 European Warblers, near J^ewcastle-on-Tyne, gives it a 

 right to a place among British birds. It inhabits the 

 banks of ponds and rivers where reeds and rushes abound ; 

 in Holland it is common, as it is also in many parts of 

 France, and in Piedmont. Its food consists of insects 

 and worms, rarely of berries, and that only when insect 

 food fails. It constructs its nest with great skill among 

 reeds, and lays from three to five eggs. A nest, supposed to 

 be that of this bird, has been found in E"orthamptonshire. 

 It is sometimes called the Thrush Mghtingale, and was at 

 one time associated by Temminck with the true Thrushes, 

 under the name of Turdus arundinaceus. 



THE EEED WAEBLER 



salicAria arundinAcea. 



Upper parts of a uniform reddish brown, without spots ; wing-feathers brown, 

 edged with olive ; a white streak between (not over) the eye and bill ; throat 

 white ; under plumage yellowish white, the sides tinged with reddish ; tail 

 long, rounded. Length five and a half inches ; breadth seven and a half Eggs 

 dull greenish white, speckled with ohve and light brown, especially towards 

 the larger end. 



The botanical name of the common reed is Arundo Phrag- 

 mitis; from the former of which terms the Eeed Warbler 

 takes its name, from the latter the Sedge Warbler. A 

 reed is a tall grass growing by the water side ; a sedge is a 

 tall grass-like plant affecting similar places. What special 

 reason there may have existed for naming the two birds 



