REED WARBLER 79 



and deep to secure the eggs when the reeds are so 

 swayed down, that the frail fabric, the bird all the while 

 sitting in it, is often brought close to the very water's 

 edge. The depth outside is from about three to five 

 inches, and the inside about three, by about three in width 

 at the top and two at the bottom. The nest, however, is 

 not invariably placed among reeds ; it is at times found in 

 a blackthorn, whitethorn, willow, or among the clustering 

 branches of an osier bed. Mr. Sweet met with one in 

 the low part of a poplar tree, and Mr. Bolton another in 

 a hazel bush. When destroyed by floods, these birds have 

 been known to build repeatedly. Mr. James Dalton, of 

 Worcester College, Oxford, has taken one from a box tree, 

 near the piece of water which is there so great an orna- 

 ment, and Mr. N. Rowe, of the same College, has found 

 one in a lilac tree. 



The eggs, usually four, but sometimes five in number, 

 are of a dull greenish-white colour, spotted and freckled 

 with darker greyish-green and light brown. In some in- 

 stances the spots are almost black, in others inclining to a 

 brownish green ; occasionally the egg is marked with one 

 or two little black lines at the broad end. The arrange- 

 ment of the spots is endless some varieties are equally 

 marked all over ; in some the spots are in a ring round the 

 broad end ; in others the base is covered ; some are but 

 slightly marked ; others are completely clouded over ; one rare 

 variety has been seen almost white, faintly mottled with pale 

 grey blots ; some quite white have been known. They are 

 frequently not laid until after the beginning of June. 



The young are hatched in July, and quit the nest before 

 they can fly, making their way about the stalks of the reeds 

 with their parents. 



