168 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



at any great distance from the vicinity of the 

 stream, whereas it is by no means infrequent to 

 find the sedge warbler disporting itself in fields 

 far away from the river. The songs of the two 

 birds are dissimilar. The sedge warbler cackles 

 and clicks incessantly, and is a notorious mimic, 

 copying the notes of other birds ; nor is it silent 

 when the daylight is past, as it may be frequently 

 heard at all hours of the summer night. The Rev. 



o 



W. Fowler thus compares the two birds. ' The 

 reed warbler, on the other hand, is quieter and 

 gentler, and utters, by way of song, a long croon- 

 ing soliloquy, in accents not sweet, but much less 

 harsh and declamatory than those of his cousin 

 . . . but the sedge warbler . . . like a fidgety 

 and ill-trained child, is never in one place, or 

 in the same vein of song, for more than a minute 

 at a time. . . . The sedge-bird rattling along in 

 a state of the intensest excitement, pitching up 

 his voice into a series of loud squeaks, and then 

 dropping it into a long-drawn grating noise . . . 

 while the reed warbler . . . takes his own 

 line in a continued prattle of gentle content and 

 self-sufficiency. ' 



To those who care for such things, there is 

 endless amusement to be derived by studying 

 the habits of birds ; many an idle hour may be 

 profitably and pleasurably passed in so doing ; 

 and there should be no lack of occupation for a 

 summer's day in any quiet neighbourhood where 

 birds are plentiful. 



