THE SEDGE WARBLER. 



way as to hide the eggs. These number 

 five or six, of a pale yellowish-brown 

 clay colour, clouded and mottled with 

 darker brown, and often streaked at the 

 larger end with hair-like black lines. 



This bird is a persistent singer, with 

 a harsh voice, an inordinate fancy for 

 repetition, and a great faculty for 

 mimicking the cries of other birds. It 

 is willing to oblige anyone who will 

 listen to its chattering, half-scolding, and 

 always hurried song, night or day. A 

 handful of gravel or mould thrown into 

 any reeds or bushes wherein a male 

 Sedge Warbler is roosting will nearly 

 always induce the bird to pour forth a 

 stream of melody. 



I have frequently heard members of 

 this species singing nearly all night long 

 on the Norfolk Broads, and many times 

 when taking my photographic plates 

 out of wash at two o'clock in the morn- 

 ing I have started a chorus around me 

 by emptying the buckets of water with 

 a splash over the stern of the little house- 

 boat in which I was staying. 



The male has another peculiarity which 



is not often mentioned in books. In the 



early part of the season he is fond of 



taking little fluttering excursions in the 



M7 



