130 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



spotted and blotched with olive-brown and gray. 

 The parent birds become very noisy when their 

 haunts are invaded, and their scolding notes are 

 uttered as they flit from reed to reed all anxious 

 for the safety of their home. The food of this 

 species and of the Sedge Warbler is almost 

 exclusively composed of the insects of the water- 

 side and their larvae. These two birds some- 

 what closely resemble each other, but the Sedge 

 Warbler is russet-brown above, the feathers with 

 dark centres, the pale buff eyestripe is very 

 clearly defined, and the underparts are buffish 

 white ; the Reed Warbler is more olive on the 

 upper parts, the feathers having no dark centres, 

 the underparts are more inclined to buff, and the 

 eyestripe is nearly obsolete. 



The voice of the Sedge Warbler is often 

 heard from the thickets at nightfall, and only 

 too often his melody is ascribed to a much 

 sweeter singer, namely, the Nightingale. He 

 is a most persistent singer ; indeed, all of these 

 riverside Warblers are, and the least provocation 

 is enough to send him into loudest song. The 

 Sedge Warbler is shy and retiring in his habits, 

 far more often heard than seen, and the peeps 

 we do get of his little brown form are transitory 

 and uncertain. Far more frequently his harsh 

 call-note of turr-turr is the only indication of 

 his presence, or mayhap the gentle trembling 

 of the twigs in the densest part of the thicket. 

 The nest of this bird may also be sought with 

 success in early June. It is made among the 

 tangled vegetation, often as much as ten feet 

 or more from the ground ; dry grass and the 

 dead leaves of aquatic plants form the outer 



