SEDGE WARBLER. 121 



the long rank grass and various other weeds that grow 

 round the stumps of the osiers ; frequently it is placed 

 on the top of one of the stumps, concealed by surround- 

 ing grass and the shoots of the willows. A nest has 

 been recorded built in a gooseberry bush. It is a small 

 and loosely-made structure, and placed either on the 

 ground itself, or from a few inches to ten or fifteen feet 

 above it. It is made of coarse dry grass, bits of moss 

 and withered sedge, and lined with a little horsehair, a 

 scrap or two of vegetable down, and more rarely a few 

 feathers. The nest is difficult to find ; the parent bird 

 sits closely, and whenever possible glides off very quietly 

 into the nearest cover. 



RANGE OF EGG COLOURATION AND MEASUREMENT : 

 The eggs of the Sedge Warbler are five or six in 

 number, and may be divided into two well-marked 

 types, between which extremes almost every intermediate 

 variety may be obtained. The ground colour of all eggs 

 is bluish-white. The first type is clouded with pale 

 buff, and indistinctly mottled with yellowish-brown; the 

 second is also washed with pale bufif, and the markings 

 are bolder in definition and a much richer brown in colour. 

 Almost invariably a few scratches or streaks of blackish- 

 brown occur, chiefly on or near the large end of the egg. 

 Average measurement, '68 inch in length, by '52 inch 

 in breadth. Incubation, performed mostly by the female, 

 lasts fourteen or fifteen days. 



DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS : The clouded buff or yel- 

 lowish-brown appearance of the eggs of the Sedge 

 Warbler, together with the black lines or pencillings, 

 readily distinguish them from those of allied species. 



