48 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
REED WARBLER. 
ACROCEPHALUS STREPERUS (Vieillot). 
The dense reed-beds that margin many of the 
Cheshire meres are suitable nesting-places for the Reed 
Warbler, and in these situations it is not uncommon 
during the summer months. We have found it breed- 
ing at Rostherne, Tatton, Pickmere, Marbury near 
Northwich, Hatchmere, and Redes Mere. Dr. Dobie 
has a nest from Marbury Mere, near Whitchurch.! 
In the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, there is a group 
comprising birds and nest taken at Combermere. 
Although we have no actual knowledge of the fact, 
there is little doubt that it breeds on all the other 
meres where there are reed-beds. 
This species is seldom met with at any distance 
from the large sheets of water, but Mr. H. H. Corbett 
informs us that about the year 1870 he found a nest 
at Handforth; and on July 11th, 1896, Coward watched 
a pair of birds in a willow-bed by the brookside at 
Nether Peover. 
The Reed Warbler has been observed occasionally 
in Wirral. In June 1865, Mr. Bewley of Poulton took 
a nest in one of the reedy ditches at Leasowe;? and 
Brockholes, writing in 1874, says, ‘A few years ago this 
species might generally be detected as an annual 
summer visitor to the Bidston Marshes,’ ® 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 290. 
2H. E. Smith, op. cit. p. 244. 
3 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 6. 
