iv The Marsh Warbler 85 



to sing a full and utterly unmistakable melody, for 

 the day was well advanced. That night I had to 

 leave for Oxford, and it was not till the following 

 Thursday that I could leave my duties there for a 

 few hours, and attempt to put the evidence of my 

 ears to the test. 



On that day I penetrated alone into the osiers at 

 8 A.M. The morning was very hot, and I soon began 

 to find the conditions of my search uncomfortably 

 tropical, for not a breath of air could reach me, and 

 this particular spot happens to be one of the warmest 

 in the parish. But all such discomforts cease to 

 tease the instant the mind has something to work 

 on ; and in a very few minutes I knew that my con- 

 viction of last Sunday was no delusion. At intervals 

 during two hours I listened to as wonderful a display 

 of mimicry as I had heard at Meiringen or Stanz- 

 stadt. This bird completely deceived me once with 

 the song of the Tree-pipit, and constantly fell to 

 mimicking the Lark, the Swallow, and others ; and 

 though I could only get a momentary glimpse of him 

 owing to the height of the osiers, I knew him for the 

 Marsh Warbler as certainly as if I had caught him 

 in my hand. It was not only the mimicry that made 

 me sure of him, for a lively Sedge Warbler will of 

 course sometimes indulge his fancy in this way : it 

 was the sweet clear tone of the voice, with its rapid 

 changes, its sudden stoppages, and its comparatively 



