214 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



one occasion I had him even nearer, owing to a mishap. 

 I was walking along the dry bottom of a wide old ditch 

 under a hedge at the side of the withy bed, when I came 

 to a deep pool or hole full of mud and slimy water, and 

 to save myself the trouble of going round it I took 

 hold of an overhanging willow branch and swung my- 

 self across to the other side, but failed to get quite 

 clear and was plunged deep into the slime. After 

 scraping off the fetid mud and slime which covered me 

 I went back to the deep pool of clear water in the withy 

 bed and taking off my tweed suit and boots spent an 

 hour in washing them, then spread them out in the 

 sun. The drying I thought would take five or six 

 hours, and as I could not roam about in my stockings 

 and underclothing which had not got wet or return to 

 the town and civilized life to get a meal or tea, I thought 

 my best plan was to spend the rest of the day lying 

 down close to one of the marsh warbler's favourite 

 singing bushes. There I made myself a nice bed of dry 

 sedges in a sunny spot within two yards of the singing- 

 bush, and presently the cock bird came and flew round 

 and perched here and there on the stems, scolding and 

 singing. He went and came a good many times, but 

 at last gave up being troubled at my presence and 

 eventually began coming to his own withy-plant and to 

 sing there fully and freely for long intervals at that 

 short distance of two yards from my head. 



I thought I had never listened to sweeter music than 

 this bird's, and that my fall into the mud-hole had 

 proved an exceedingly happy accident. 



