BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 331 



nest is in a tree it is attached to several twigs in a 

 similar manner. 



Wool and hair are used for the lining. The four or 

 five eggs are greenish white in ground-colour, heavily 

 blotched with gray, olive, and black. 



THE MARSH-WARBLER 



(Acrocephalus palustris). 



The Marsh- Warbler is scarcely distinguishable from the 

 Reed -Warbler, and is of similar habits. Its eggs are 

 much whiter in ground-colour. It is apparently a very 

 uncommon summer visitor and nester in a few English 

 districts. 



THE GRASSHOPPER=WARBLER 



(Locustella nsevia). 



Plate 131. 



This bird takes its name from its curious ' reeling ■" cry ; 

 but for which it would be little noticed, as it is of very 

 skulking habits. A markedly fan-shaped tail is one of the 

 characteristics of its genus. The plumage of this species 

 closely resembles that of the Sedge-Warbler, a rather 

 smaller bird. Its near ally, Savi's Warbler, closely resembles 

 the Reed-Warbler, a congener of the Sedge- Warbler. 

 This seems almost too much for mere coincidence, and 

 reminds us of a tropical instance in which a number of 

 closely allied species, each inhabiting a separate island, 

 mimic in plumage a corresponding series of birds inhabit- 

 ing the same island. But in that case the members of 



