BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 329 



spotted and speckled all over with reddisli-brown. 

 Sometimes the markings are more numerous at 

 the larger end, and occasionally a few thin, hair- 

 like streaks are present. Size about "72 by -54 in. 



Time. — May, June, and July. 



BemarJiS. — Migratory, arriving in April and May, 

 and departing in September. Notes : call, tic, tic ; 

 song, a chirping noise, similar to that made by 

 a grasshopper, but louder and longer. Local and 

 other names: Reeler, Cricket-bird, Grasshopper Lark. 

 Leaves the nest quietly and quickly, and hides in 

 the surrounding undergrowth. 



WARBLER, MARSH. 



Description of Parent Birds. — This bird very 

 closely resembles the Reed Warbler, and it is only 

 within recent years that it has been admitted to 

 be a distinct British breeding species. Mr. Harting 

 has done much to establish this fact, and specimens 

 have been seen and procured in different parts of 

 the country. Length about five and a half inches. 

 Bill shorter and broader than in the case of the 

 Reed Warbler, nearly straight, dark brown above, 

 and pale brown below. Irides hazel. Mr Seebohm, 

 who has had special facilities for examining speci- 

 mens, describes the bird as follows, in his admirable 

 work on British Birds : — 



" The Marsh Warbler has the general colour of 

 the upper-parts varying from olive-brown in spring 

 plumage to earthy brown in summer, with a scarcely 

 perceptible shade of rufous after the autunni moult, 

 slightly paler on the rump. The eye stripe is nearly 

 obsolete, and the innermost secondaries have broad 

 ill-defined pale edges. The breast, fianks, and under 



