110 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK. 



season, and especially when anxious for the safety of its 

 young, the sedge warbler also utters a creaking noise, 

 so closely resembling the grasshopper warbler, that I 

 have shot the bird by mistake for the rarer species. 

 Although generally far outnumbering the reed warblers, 

 I have observed more than once, after an unusually cold 

 spring, that the reed birds were decidedly the most 

 numerous. This I can onl^j account for by supposing 

 that the sedge birds, arriving earlier, suffer from the 

 severe frosts that occur at times after their arrival ; but 

 whether this be the cause or not, I have known the broad- 

 men themselves to remark the small number of these 

 birds in some seasons. Mr. Tarrell mentions a rare 

 instance of a sedge warbler being observed near High 

 Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, in winter, but I have 

 never known of its occurrence in Norfolk later than the 

 20th of October. 



SALICARIA LUSCINIOIDES (Savi). 



SAYI'S WARBLEE. 



At least six well authenticated specimens of this 

 very rare British warbler are now ascertained to have 

 been procured in Norfolk, of which the first, though long 

 overlooked, was for many years the only one known to 

 science. This bird (No. 63.b), in the museum collection, 

 was obtained by the late Eev. Jas. Brown, at Limpenhoe, 

 in the early part of the present century, during the 

 month of May, and the following interesting account 

 of it was kindly sent me by Mr. Brown, in 1856, on his 

 hearing that I had lately received one from Surlingham 

 broad. He says — " Its singular note had been observed 

 at Limpenhoe by Sir Wm. Hooker, myself, and another 

 ornithological friend, whilst investigating the natural 



