WARBLERS 33 
Bird. Length 49 in. Distinguished by the pale brown 
legs from the chiffchaff, which see. 
Nest. Unlike the chiffchaff’s it is 
usually on or near the ground, in 
grass and other herbage, or in bank 
sides, and may be found either in 
woodland or on commons, away from # 
trees. Domed with entrance at the 
side. Material: grass, moss, leaves, 
and other material lined with feathers. 
Eggs. Usually 6-7. White spotted 64 
with reddish-brown. Occasionally Fig. 36. 
freckled and rarely blotched with 
light chestnut. Underlying marks violet-grey. Av. size, 
‘60x °48 in. Laying begins April-May. Usually one brood. 
60. Wood-warbler [Phylloscopus sibilatrix sibilatrix (Bech- 
stein)]. Summer visitor to woodland districts, but local. 
Scarce in Ireland, 
Bird. Length 54 in. Distinguished from the chiffchaff and 
willow-wren by its larger size, longer wings, sulphur-yellow 
eye-stripe, throat, and flanks, and wasioxktty brighter hues. 
The male, in summer, has the upper-parts yellowish-green. 
Under-parts whitish, except throat and flanks, which are 
sulphur-yellow. Tail and wings brown with yellowish-green 
edgings and whitish tips. Female duller. 
Nest. Usually on or near the ground in dead bracken or 
mixed herbage. Material: bracken, grass, leaves, &c., with 
a lining of finer grasses and hair—but not feathers, in which 
this nest differs from that of the two above. Domed. 
Eggs. Usually 6-7. White spotted dark red-brown, in- 
clining to purplish-red. Av. size, ‘62x ‘34 in. Laying begins 
in latter half of May. One brood. 
61. Reed-warbler [Acrocephalus streperus streperus (Vieillot)]. 
Summer visitor to most parts of England and Wales. Absent 
from Scotland and Ireland. 
Bird. Length5jin. Almost impossible to distinguish from 
the much rarer marsh-warbler. The best means of identifica- 
tion is provided by the nesting-habits, eggs (see below), 
and by the very superior song of the marsh-warbler, which 
song has been described as “ more silvery, high-pitched, sweet, 
and varied than that of any other species of warbler with which I 
am acquainted ” (Warde Fowler). “It gave me the impression 
of the song of a reed-warbler with the voice and execution of 
a blackeap” (W. Farren). Its alarm-note is “a kind of musical 
crake” (Warde Fowler). In the reed-warbler the upper-parts 
are olive-brown inclining to rufous, especially on the rump. 
Cc 
