THE NORTHWARD FLIGHT 



65 



comes south in August. Only 

 those who live near a reed bed 

 can appreciate these., birds to 

 the full. For months the reeds 

 will have been silent and 

 deserted, and then suddenly, 

 without a note of warning, you 

 wake one spring morning and 

 hear a gush of song from the 

 creek, and you know the reed- 

 warblers have arrived. Day and 

 night for about five months you 

 hear their voices, sweet and 

 ringing, as they build and breed 

 amongst the rushes. Then, as 

 the summer fades, the chorus 

 lessens, and grows thinner and 

 thinner, till one morning there 

 <:omes no sound at all, and you 

 know the birds have joined the 

 northward flight in quest of 

 warmth and sunshine. 



All the birds mentioned so fat- 

 are, properly speaking, Aus- 

 tralian, for they all breed here, The home in the rushes J- R - 

 and with a few exceptions, do RKKD-WARBI.BR AND NEST 



