SEDGE WARBLER. 121 



the long rank grass and various other weeds that grow 

 round the stumps of the osiers ; frequently it is placed 

 on the top of one of the stumps, concealed by surround- 

 ing grass and the shoots of the willows. A nest has 

 been recorded built in a gooseberry bush. It is a small 

 and loosely-made structure, and placed either on the 

 ground itself, or from a few inches to ten or fifteen feet 

 above it. It is made of coarse dry grass, bits of moss 

 and withered sedge, and lined with a little horsehair, a 

 scrap or two of vegetable down, and more rarely a few 

 feathers. The nest is difficult to find ; the parent bird 

 sits closely, and whenever possible glides off very quietly 

 into the nearest cover. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs cf the Sedge Warbler are five or six in 

 number, and may be divided into two well-marked 

 types, between which extremes almost every intermediate 

 variety may be obtained. The ground colour of all eggs 

 is bluish-white. The first type is clouded with pale 

 buff, and indistinctly mottled with yellowish-brown ; the 

 second is also washed with pale buff, and the markings 

 are bolder in definition and a much richer brown in colour. 

 Almost invariably a few scratches or streaks of blackish- 

 brown occur, chiefly on or near the large end of the egg. 

 Average measurement, '6^ inch in length, by "52 inch 

 in breadth. Incubation, performed mostly by the female, 

 lasts fourteen or fifteen days. 



DiA(;N0STIC characters : The clouded buff or yel- 

 lowish-brown appearance of the eggs of the Sedge 

 Warbler, together with the black lines or pencillings, 

 readilv distinguish them from those of allied species. 



