120 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



resembles the Reed- Warbler, and may easily be 

 mistaken for it. I must refer my readers to the 

 fourth edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds,' vol. i. 

 p. 374, for a detailed account of a comparison of the 

 two species. 



45. SEDGE-WARBLER. 



Acroceplialiis pliragmitis. 



The Sedge- Warbler is one of our most abundant 

 summer visitors, generally arriving about a week 

 earlier than the Reed- Warbler, and leaving us early 

 in September, though I have more than once met 

 with a bird of this species on the river-banks in the 

 winter months. The incessant chattering, varied song 

 of the Sedge- Warbler is probably well known to most 

 of my readers, and is often continued, as in the case 

 of the Reed-Warbler, throughout the night ; indeed, 

 except in the fact that it is not so exclusively addicted 

 to reeds, and its mode of nidification, its habits very 

 much resemble those of that species. This is a rest- 

 less, busy little bird, for ever flitting from place to 

 place, setting up its hurried song as if it had only a 

 moment to spare, crowding the notes of other birds 

 one into another, with every now and then a break 

 into a harsh chide and an abrupt stop. Many writers 

 have mentioned that the Sedge-Warbler will recom- 

 mence his song on a stone being thrown into the 

 bush or sedge in which he is concealed ; this I have 

 repeatedly proved to be a fact, and I have also found 

 that the report of a gun will set off both these birds 

 and the Reed-Warblers in the neighbourhood into a 

 burst of song. I have distinctly noticed imitations of 



