2/6 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



tolerably common, but confines itself to the neigh- 

 bourhood of water, where its lively song may be heard 

 among the aquatic plants and bushes fringing the 

 pools and water courses in the meadows, sometimes 

 long after sunset. The Reed Warbler (Calamoherpe 

 arundinacea) is rare with us ; we have met with its 

 nest and eggs but twice : once among the small twigs 

 of a willow overhanging a stream near the Pond-tail 

 plantation, the other in a thick patch of reeds, growing, 

 oddly enough, in the " Red Sea ! " In this latter struc- 

 ture the stems of the plants were converted into the 

 supporting columns of the edifice by being brought 

 forcibly together and skilfully enclosed within a neat, 

 band of fine grass, which was designed to form the 

 exterior of the nest. Its song, like that of the sedge 

 warbler, is often heard late at night, and its eggs are 

 not much unlike those of the Dartford warbler. On 

 the authority of J. E. Harting, Esq., author of the 

 charming " Ornithology of Shakespeare," and several 

 other well-known works on Natural History, we may 

 add another species of warbler to our list. In the 

 summer of 1870 we met with a nest containing three 

 eggs which were new to us. We were fortunate in 

 having an opportunity of submitting them to Mr. 

 Harting, who at once identified them as those of the 

 Marsh Warbler (Calamoherpe palustris), a bird of such 

 rarity as a British species and an occasional visitant, 

 that Harting may well be congratulated on the dis- 

 tinction of having, once at least, afforded it a nesting 

 place. 



The Common Wren (Anorthura Troglodytes) favours 

 us with its presence summer and winter, and not im- 

 probably builds its nest in almost every old thatch in 

 the Parish. It occasionally nestles also in sawpits, in 

 hedge banks and in old walls overgrown with ivy. Its 

 song is surprisingly loud for so small a bird, and may 

 be heard occasionally all the year round. 



The elegant Pied Wagtail (Motacilla Yarrelli) is 



