78 REED WARBLER. 



an osier bed. Mr. Sweet met with one in the low part of a poplar tree, 

 and Mr. Bolton another in a hazel bush. It is said that the nests of 

 birds of the first and second year's age are not so neatly finished as 

 those whose builders have had more experience. When destroyed 

 sometimes by floods, even two or three times, these birds have been 

 known by Mr. Briggs to build a fourth. James Dalton, Esq., of 

 Worcester College, Oxford, has taken one suspended in a box tree, 

 near the piece of water which is there so great an ornament. N. Howe, 

 Esq., of the same College, has found it in a lilac tree. G-. B. Clarke, 

 Esq., of Woburn, has also forwarded to me specimens of the nest and 

 eggs of the present species, as have likewise J. G. Bonney, Esq., 

 and Mr. Dalton. 



The eggs, usually four, or sometimes five or six in number, are of a 

 dull greenish white colour, spotted and freckled with darker greyish 

 green and light brown. In some instances 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 arrangement 

 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. 



One is of a greyish white, with one or two greyish blots, and a few 

 lighter spots of the same. 



A second is of a greenish white, with some handsome and distinct 

 green blots. 



A third is of a dark greyish green, mottled over with spots of a 

 dark green. 



A fourth variety is grounded with very pale yellowish white, and 

 some spots of a darkish green, chiefly at and about the thicker end. 



A fifth is of a dark greyish green, with some dark green spots. 



A sixth is of a greyish green, covered over with darker green spots. 



The young are hatched in July, and are said to quit the nest soon, 

 being able, before acquiring the art of flying, to make their way about 

 the stalks of the reeds with their parents. 



