114 The Marsh-Warbler. 



never, so far as I know, been found inimediatel}' over water, but at a little 

 distance from it, and not very far from cultivated ground. We took one egg 

 only, and after some further search returned to the village, and went on our way 

 to Meiringen, where we were to sleep that night." 



I do not doubt that the usual habit of the Marsh-Warbler is to build its 

 nest above moist ground and not over water ; but to anyone who has nested year 

 after year for any considerable period, the fact that there is no rule without 

 exceptions is found to be especially true in relation to nesting sites. It is most 

 unusual for a Spotted Flycatcher to build in a hole in a wall, and for a Wren to 

 form its domed nest in a box, yet I have obtained the former and ni}- friend Frohawk 

 the latter. That the Marsh-Warbler, therefore, should occasionally follow the habit 

 of its very close relation the Reed- Warbler, is no more than might be expected. 



The food of the Marsh-Warbler consists largely of insects and spiders, but it 

 also eats elder-berries and small fruits in their season. 



The Marsh- Warbler is said to reach its breeding-grounds about the middle 

 of May, and to leave them late in August. Herr Gatke, speaking of it in 

 Heligoland, says : — " This species * * * was in former years met with far more 

 frequently in Heligoland than is the case now. As regards numbers, too, it was 

 far better represented than the preceding species (the Reed- Warbler) — a relation 

 which obtains even at the present day in regard to the few individuals still 

 visiting the island." 



" Further, before the period under consideration, the spring and summer 

 months were almost invariably fine and warm, with a prevalence of south-easterly 

 winds, so that in April and May of almost every year the island used to teem 

 with Sylvice and other small birds ; indeed there were many days on which one 

 might have been able to secure more than a hundred Bluethroats (Sylvia suecicaj , 

 and some twenty or more examples of 5. hypolais and 5. palnsiris. Since then, on 

 the other hand, our spring and summer is almost always cold, with raw and dry 

 winds from the north, and the number of these Sylvi^x, and of other both smaller 

 and larger species which put in an appearance at these seasons, has dwindled to 

 the slenderest proportions, so that now the two last named species are seen 

 perhaps not more than twice or three times in the course of a spring migration." 



Although I have not heard of this species having been exhibited as a cage- 

 bird in England, it is recorded among the species sent to the sixth exhibition of 

 the " Oruis " Society in Berlin. Mathias Rausch, in the " Gefiederte Welt " for 

 1 89 1, in an exhaustive article on the European Song-birds, states that this bird 

 is very prolific in imitations of the songs of other species, frequently even more 

 versatile thau the Icteriue Warbler, though iu strength of voice, iu piirit}' aud 



