iv The Marsh Warbler 79 



about a quarter of a mile ahead. This scrub turned 

 out to consist of some kind of low-growing willow, 

 with ditches and hollows overgrown with long grass 

 and meadowsweet. My friend plunged into it, while 

 I went on a little further. Almost directly he called 

 me back, and by the waving of his umbrella I saw 

 that he had made some discovery. It was indeed 

 a discovery ; it was the nest of a Marsh Warbler. 

 There was the nest, and there too was the bird, which 

 continued to creep about the neighbourhood of the 

 nest for some minutes after we had disturbed her. 

 There were four eggs in the nest, the beauty of which 

 will always dwell in my memory. They were of the 

 same type as the Eeed Warbler's, but instead of being 

 densely covered with greenish spots, their ground 

 colour was greenish white, with many largish dull 

 purple blotches, gathered chiefly at the thicker end. 

 The nest too was specifically distinct from that of 

 our familiar Oxford bird ; it was of a slighter make, 

 and not so deep, but the stalks of the meadowsweet 

 had been drawn into its structure, much as the reeds 

 or the shoots of privet or lilac are used in the nest of 

 the Eeed Warbler. It is worth noting that the few 

 nests of this species which have been so far found in 

 England have been usually suspended in meadow- 

 sweet ; and also that they have never, so far as I 

 know, been found immediately over water, but at a 

 little distance from it, and not very far from culti- 



