WOOD WREN.CHIFFCHAFF &- SEDGE WARBLER. 119 



strains of Philomela he is but a sorry substitute. There 

 seems to be a vague idea amongst persons unlearned in 

 the ways and doings of the feathered race that no bird, 

 the Nightingale excepted, sings at night. But this is an 

 error, for many birds, notably the Warblers, pour forth 

 some of their sweetest strains under a star-spangled sky. 



The Sedge Warbler appears to live entirely on insect 

 life. You sometimes see him take a short flight over 

 the surface of the water and secure an insect, and then 

 return to his perching-place. He also explores the 

 branches and twigs, likewise the reedy places and coarse 

 vegetation bordering the waters. 



We find their nest sometimes placed in the thick 

 branches of the hedgerow bordering a stream, at other 

 times we see it in the brambles growing in wild confusion 

 in his marshy haunts, or in the bushes and woodbine 

 drooping over the water. It is but a small and simple 

 structure, made of a few dry grass stems, sometimes sedgy 

 plants, and often lined with a few hairs. The eggs, 

 usually four or five in number, are something similar to a 

 Whitethroat's ^^^^ and about the same size, but are more 

 clouded, and generally streaked with deep brown. Some 

 specimens are beautifully marbled over with olive green. 

 The old birds leave their charge as silently as possible, 

 as is the case with all birds of the family of W^arblers, 

 and by this means the nest, appearing as it often does 

 but a tuft of withered grass, is very often passed un- 

 noticed by an intruder. 



As the Sedge Warbler appears to lose his notes 

 after the young reach maturity, and as he is such a shy 

 and retiring little creature, it is difficult to say when he 

 leaves us. But as 1 always fail to find him in places 

 most favoured by his presence in September, I conclude 

 that he leaves us for the south during the latter part of 

 August. 



