LAST WEEK IN MAY 131 
characteristic of the bird, as we have before 
noticed. At last he caught a fair sight of us 
and flitted off, but only a short distance, and 
then redoubled his vocal efforts. Being so 
close to him we were able to distinguish him 
by the yellowish streak over the eye from 
his first cousin the reed-warbler, whom he so 
closely resembles in form, colour and song. 
The fact that he did not leave the bushes 
made us conclude that he had a nest near by. 
But this was not the case. This spot was, 
however, the selected one, but the nest was 
not built till as late as the middle of July. 
When we found it it was about ten feet from 
the ground, and the materials, as usual, were 
wound round the supporting twigs. 
We also found a thrush’s nest with three 
eggs, which had scarcely any spots. The 
eggs were of the true blue ground colour of 
that bird, and of the proper size, and the 
nest was lined with clay, so that there was 
no doubt as to its identity, though we had 
never seen thrush’s eggs like this before. 
On Swan Island the swan’s nest was empty 
