8o 



THE NATURE BOOK 



bed of some extent, therefore the Sedge- 

 bird is the commoner of the two, and is 

 almost certain to be found wherever the 



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SEDGE -W^ARBLER. 



Reed -bird occurs. Both 

 are httle brown birds with 

 rounded tails, but the Sedge 

 Warbler has its upper plum- 

 age spotted with darker 

 brown, and the huffish 

 white line over the eye is 

 much more conspicuous 

 than in the Reed Warbler. 

 The nesting habits of the 

 two species are quite dis- 

 tinct, for while the Sedge 

 Warbler builds a compara- 

 tively' clumsy nest low down 

 amongst any kind of marsh 

 undergrowth, and even in 

 high and dry situations at 

 some distance from the 

 water — at Cambridge I once 

 found one in a garden 

 gooseberry bush — the more 

 particular Reed Warbler 

 weaves a beautiful deej)- 

 cupi^ed cradle, suspended 

 above the water by the 

 aid of three or four reeds. 

 I have now by me four 

 nests, mown out by marsh 

 cutters, in which seven, five, 

 five, and nine reed-stems 

 are thus utilised, and the lining is chiefly 

 composed of the feathery bloom of the 

 former year's reed. Both of these Marsh 

 Chats are incessant singers, and although 

 their notes are somewhat alike, and 



both can be roused into song by being 

 disturbed after dark, the Reed-bird gives 

 the better music, which is not so harsh 

 nor does it contain so many notes bor- 

 rowed from other birds as does the 

 chatter of the bolder Sedge Warbler. 



The Nightingale, fastidious in its 

 habitat, but surely betraying its where- 

 abouts by its proverbial notes, is far more 

 often heard than seen, for although it 

 does not rest by day, it is a great skulker, 

 and delights in thick undergrowth, 





NIGHTINGALE. 



especially where oak is the j^revailing* 

 timber. In fact I never remember having 

 found a nest of this species of which dead 

 oak leaves did not form a part of the outer 

 covering. Perhaps the only bird for 



