14 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



Gullane Links, in East Lothian, in May, 1867, and the 

 remainder on Breydon mudflats, in Norfolk, in May, 

 1871. 



REED WARBLER. 



Case 16. 



Scientific naturalists declare we have in this country 

 two distinct species of Reed Warblers, but whether 

 this is the case or not, I leave to wiser heads than 

 mine to decide. 



Wherever reeds are abundant this bird is sure to be 

 met with, either along the banks of rivers and ponds, 

 or in the large beds that are found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the broads of Norfolk and Suffolk and 

 adjoining counties. 



The nest is usually attached to three or four stems 

 of the reed ; and if rocking is a luxury to the young 

 birds, they must, certainly during rough weather, have 

 a particularly happy time of it, as their cradle sways 

 backwards and forwards with every breath of wind. 



Like their neighbour the Sedge Warbler, they are 

 remarkably noisy, though not extremely melodious 

 songsters. During the day both species confine them- 

 selves to an occasional cackling note, evidently re- 

 serving their harmony for the evening concert, which 

 usually commences as soon as the sun gets low. 

 Hickling Broad, in the east of Norfolk, is one of the 

 spots where this may be heard to perfection any fine 

 evening in June. 



The din that is caused by several hundreds of these 

 birds singing and chattering at the same time, together 

 with the croaking of the frogs, the jarring of the Night 



