BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 213 



whitethroat, sometimes breaking out into a bold, beautiful 

 song. Each bird, too. occasionally forgets its shyness, 

 and coming out from its retreat perches well in sight and 

 fearlessly sings its loudest. But their nests are unmis- 

 takable ; for while the sedge-warbler always builds upon 

 some support, the reed-sparrow hangs its nest between sup- 

 ports, but never upon them. Yet as you loiter near their 

 pretty nesting-places, it does not matter much which of the 

 birds you disturb, for either will sing for you as long as 

 you remain, and it is a charming sight to see the litde 

 olive-o-reen bird clinofine to a reed or a willow-withe, and with 

 stretched throat singing with all its might. A very little 

 wind makes it sway, and this, with the bird's strange 

 ventriloquist powers, makes the song seem to sway, too, 

 and as you watch it, the small creature grows quite mystical, 

 with its notes, now near now far, and its beautiful little body 

 swino-ing to and fro in the chequered shadow of the tall 

 plumed reeds. And sometimes, while he is singing, the 

 hen-bird, as if excited by his song, begins too, in a harsher 

 voice but not unmusical, and once started you will hear the 

 duet going on behind you long after you have left. In 

 the warm evenings, when out with my net moth-hunting 

 along the river side, I have often heard them singing 

 amono- the sedo-e and willows, and later, coming home in 

 the dark, have found them still in full song. 



As a matter of fact, our short nights in summer have 



