62 BIRDS BROWN ABOVE AND WHITE BELOW. 



under parts buffish- white ; clear white on the throat. 

 Summer migrant. 



Eggs. 5 - 6, closely and softly mottled with 



yellowish-brown upon a paler ground, often with 



a few excessively fine hair-lines; '68 x '52 inch 

 (plate 124). 



Nest. Deep, of dry grass and moss, lined with 

 hair and fine grass-heads, and placed in thick herbage 

 beside streams and ditches, sometimes in a bush or 

 hedge. 



Distribution. General. 



The Sedge -Warbler is a bird of the water-side, 

 building in the reeds and willow-beds, tangled bushes 

 by the sides of brooks, or others less near, but gener- 

 ally within reach of water. Its song is a continuous, 

 gabbling medley of notes musical and unmusical, 

 delivered as the bird wanders about under cover of 

 the reeds or bushes. A low, harsh ' Chur-r-r ! ' fre- 

 quently recurs, the intervals being filled by sudden 

 bursts of more highly pitched sounds, generally 

 mechanical in their quality, and resembling the call- 

 notes of several other birds. No bird emits such an 

 incessant babble of heterogeneous sounds. At times 

 it may be seen for a moment at the top of a reed or 

 bush, the peculiarly flat brow and bold white eye-band 

 being readily visible. The heavy eye-stripe alone 

 stamps the Sedge- Warbler in a bird of such habits 

 and surroundings. After nesting is over, the Sedge- 

 Warbler goes clambering and chattering among the 

 standing wheat, clinging to the stems sideways, as is 

 its way among the reeds. The flight is low and 

 hurried, accompanied at times by a running gabble 



