124 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



and marshes of East Anglia has robbed the birds of 

 their summer quarters, and compelled them and their 

 descendants to seek haunts elsewhere. It formerly 

 bred in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, 

 and possibly in one or two adjoining counties, arriving 

 in April. The nest is carefully concealed amongst sedge, 

 rushes or reeds, and made at varying heights from six 

 inches to a yard above the sodden ground. It is a 

 deep, cup-shaped structure almost entirely made of the 

 flat ribbon-like leaves of the sedges, generally Glyceria, 

 the narrow ones being used for the lining. The eggs 

 (laid in May and June) are from four to six in number, 

 and vary in ground colour from white or pale gray to 

 pale buff, sprinkled and freckled over the entire surface 

 with ashy-brown, and with underlying markings of 

 violet-gray. The spots are most numerous round the 

 larger end of the egg, where they often form a distinct 

 zone. Sometimes a few hair-like streaks of darker 

 brown occur. Average measurement, 78 inch in length, 

 by *57 inch in breadth. They most nearly resemble 

 those of the Grasshopper Warbler, but may generally 

 be distinguished by their browner appearance. Both 

 birds assist in the duties of incubation, which lasts 

 about fourteen days. It is not known to rear more than 

 one brood in the season. 



