300 THE REED WARBLER. 



The Reed Warbler, or Reed Wren 



(Salicaria Arundincea. ) Mihi. 



" The mother bird bad moved not, 

 But, cowering o'er her nestlings, 

 Sate confident and fearless." — Southey. 



This bird is so rare in Britain as to be classed merely as an 

 O.V. It is also a summer migrant. I never found its nest 

 myself, but one was got amongst the reeds at Eden, and the eggs 

 brought to me for identification. The nest is generally supported 

 by four or five reeds, and looks very fine with the long leaves of 

 the reeds bending over it. It is one of the most interesting of 

 all our birds' nests — more like one of those curious structures 

 which the tailor-bird weaves for the protection of its young 

 from the many enemies which abound in tropical climes ; for 

 were it not for the deep and narrow nest fixed between the high 

 reeds, so subject to be bowed down and swayed by the wind, 

 neither the mother, eggs, or young could remain in it an hour 

 during a gale — for the reeds bend dowu to the very surface of 

 the water. It is the deepest and narrowest of all our birds' 

 nests — so deep as to entirely conceal the bird when sitting. It 

 is composed of the flowering tops of the reeds, finer in the 

 centre, sometimes completed by a few hairs. The outside is 

 bound round and kept firm by long grass, mixed with wool, and, 

 at the same time, twisted round the reeds to bind all together — 

 such is the instinct of unerring Nature, which enables the eggs 

 or young to ride secure in their wisely-constructed cradle ! The 

 eggs are larger than the sedge warbler's, and easily known by 

 the greenish colour and larger spots or blotches. The eggs of 

 the three are unmistakably distinct — the first is pink, with 

 carmine specks ; the next yellowish-brown ; and the other light 

 bluish-green, with darker blotches ; but, as already said in this 

 little work, eggs, like the nests of birds, vary in colour and 

 shape — for instance, reed warblers' nests are often got as shallow 

 as those of the sedge warbler. Mr Hewitson says a bird-stuffer 

 in Bath got several nests for him in that city in gardens lying 

 near the river — one was in a lilac, another in a lauristinus ; and 

 as they did not require the same precautionary depth they were 



