io8 The Reed- Warbler. 



are slightly more rnfescent after the autumn moult. The young are very tawn};^ 

 on the under surface. 



This species reaches Great Britain towards the end of April, and leaves again 

 in September. 



Although, as its name implies, the Reed- Warbler mostly frequents reed-grown 

 dykes, ponds, or the edges of broads and rivers where reed and sedge abound ; I 

 have seen it also fairly abundant in marshy copses in Kent, and in gooseberry 

 gardens in Norfolk ; but always in the vicinity of water : on the other hand Mr. 

 R. H. Mitford speaks of its nesting in lilac-trees in his garden at Hampstead. I 

 have three nests built in forks of hazel, the first of which is of the normal type, 

 and was given to me by the Hon. Walter de Rothschild, who obtained it at Tring; 

 the two others were sent to me by Mr. Salter, from Salisbury, and decidedly 

 approach the nest of the Marsh-Warbler in character, as also do the eggs in one 

 of them ; in both the latter instances, the hazels were growing close to water. 

 The nest of this bird is most frequently suspended in reeds ; sometimes the 

 attachment is firm, sometimes loose ; the latter arrangement is adopted and the 

 nest fastened above a leaf when the level of the water shows great variation 

 during the day ; thus, when the water rises it raises the nest, which is built with 

 an unusually thick base above the projecting leaves: this I have proved to be the 

 case on more than one occasion, and hence Swaysland's belief that the nests in 

 the Brighton dykes were constructed with this object has some justification, 

 although in the particular specimens which Mr. Seebohm examined most had a 

 leaf projecting close to the nest, both immediately above and below it on one or 

 other of the reeds, which would make any movement of the kind impossible. 

 From two to four reeds are employed for the suspension of the nest, the most 

 frequent number being three. 



I shall not easily forget my first experience in taking the nest of the Reed- 

 Warbler : I had heard that the species was numerously represented among the 

 reeds which grow in abundance at Tong Mill, in the village of Tong, near 

 Sittingboume. The mill and the adjoining plantation were at that time the 

 property of a Mr. Arthur Bennett, a large-hearted man who took an interest in 

 Natural History, so that I had no difficulty in obtaining permission to search for 

 birds' nests wherever I pleased. 



When I approached the stream I could hear the Reed- Warblers in every 

 direction, but could only catch a glimpse of them from time to time as they 

 emerged for a moment from the densely clustered leaves. The reeds grew most 

 thickly near to the house ; but at this point the stream was very wide, and the 

 birds appeared to be chiefly in mid- stream ; so that I was at a loss to know how 



