iv The Marsh Warbler 73 



Keed Warblers, it is true, have long ago adapted 

 themselves to circumstances, and often build, not in 

 reeds, but in bushes, in privet, lilac, willow, etc. : 

 using the pliable twigs exactly as they used to use 

 the reeds, i.e. gathering them into the nest in order 

 to secure it more strongly against wind and storm. 

 There was no reason, then, why a Reed Warbler 

 should not choose the privet hedge for an abode ; 

 but for so retiring a bird to select a spot within a 

 few paces of a school was surely singular. And then 

 the song, which was almost incessant, was also loud, 

 vigorous, and delightful : if it were really the song 

 of a Eeed Warbler, the singer had a marvellous gift, 

 far exceeding that of any individual of the species 

 that I had ever yet heard. The Eeed Warbler's song 

 is unusually quiet and sedate, and even monotonous ; 

 but here was a bird of genius, who understood how 

 to turn the ordinary song into a very brilliant and 

 diversified performance. I saw the bird once or 

 twice for a moment, and it appeared to me to be 

 quite indistinguishable from the Eeed Warbler ; I 

 doubt if it then occurred to me that it could be 

 anything else. The next day it was gone: 



Next year (1889), on 8th May, I again heard this 

 wonderful outpouring of song in the same place; 

 and by this time it had occurred to me that the 

 singer might be the rarer Marsh Warbler, which has 

 only of late years been fully recognised as an English 



