BY LAKES AND STREAMS. 129 



associated with the waterside. The most aquatic 

 of these is the REED WARBLER (Acrocepkalus south O r 

 streperus], although it is not so universally dis- Sw! iSgf 

 tributed. Both are migrants, arriving in "this tu 

 country about the middle of April, but of the 

 two the SEDGE WARBLER (A. phragmitis) is widely 

 perhaps a little the earlier. Although both love dlstrlbuted - 

 an aquatic haunt, there is considerable difference 

 between the localities frequented by each. The 

 Reed Warbler, as his name implies, is by choice 

 a dweller in the reeds and willows ; the Sedge 

 Warbler frequents the tangled underwood by the 

 waterside and the swampy thickets in the 

 spinneys. The narrow reed-choked dykes of 

 our southern and eastern counties are the Reed 

 Bird's paradise. Here, among the tall green 

 stems and streaming leaves, he lives in that 

 seclusion his retiring nature loves ; here, from 

 morn till even, and at intervals during the night, 

 he sings his rambling song as he clings to the 

 reeds ; and we often obtain fleeting glimpses of 

 him as he hops from stalk to stalk with marvellous 

 speed through the dense cover, or flits across 

 the water-ways, or flutters into the air above 

 his haunt to drop down again at once into its 

 verdant shelter. Nests of this bird are common 

 enough among the reeds and willows during 

 the month of June. It is a curious and wonderful 

 cradle, this nest of the Reed Warbler, suspended 

 over the water between the willow twigs, or 

 supported by three or four of the green reeds. 

 It is made of dry grass-stalks and withered leaves 

 of the reeds, sometimes a little moss, and lined 

 with fine rootlets. The eggs are four or five 

 in number, very pale blue in ground colour, 



