THE SEDGE WARBLER 97 



MARSH WARBLER 



■ ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS 



Upper parts olive-green without any reddish tinge ; legs and feet pale brown. 



The Marsh Warbler is local in its occurrence, in the south of England. 

 It nests in drier places than the Reed Warbler and its song is different, 

 being much more melodious, and uttered more boldly. Close 

 to low bushes, or among meadow-sweet, nettles and cow-parsnip, 

 you may find its nest, which is made of fine rounded stalks of grass 

 and lined with horsehair. There are five to seven eggs, whiter 

 in ground colour than those of the Reed Warbler. The Marsh 

 Warbler comes each spring to the neighbourhood of Taunton, but 

 it is still a somewhat rare species. 



THE SEDGE WARBLER 



ACROCEPHALUS PHRAGMfTIS 



Upper plumage olive-grey, the centre of each feather tinged with brown ; 

 above the eyes a broad yellowish white stripe ; under, yellowish white, 

 more or less tinged with red ; throat white ; tail rounded, of moderate 

 length, of a uniform ash-brown. Length four and a half inches ; breadth 

 seven and a half. Eggs dirty white, mottled all over with dull yellowish 

 brown. 



On the banks of reedy and bushy rivers, in marshes, withy holts, 

 wherever, in fact, there is fresh water associated with enough 

 vegetation to shelter and conceal, this bustling little bird is a con- 

 stant summer visitor ; restless in its habits, and courting notice 

 by its twittering song, from the time of its arrival to that of its 

 departure. It is usually first detected by its rapidly repeated note, 

 which it utters while performing its short flights from bush to 

 bush, and while creeping in and out among reeds and rushes. The 

 fisherman knows it well, and is often tempted to withdraw his eye 

 from his fly or float, to watch its movements on the opposite bank. 

 From its unceasing babble, ploughboys call it a ' chat ', a name 

 which exactly answers to the French name of the group to which 

 it belongs — ' Jaseuses '. Its note is remarkable neither for volume 

 nor sweetness, and, like that of unfeathered chatterers, seems to 

 carry more noise than meaning. To a certain extent the bird is 

 a mimic, as it imitates such notes of other birds as are within the 

 compass of its little throat. I was walking one morning in May 

 by the banks of a canal not far from a village, when I remarked 

 the exact resemblance between a portion of its song and the chirrup 

 of a House Sparrow. Intermixed with this, I detected the note 

 of some other bird ; but, familiar though it sounded, I ransacked 

 my memory in vain to discover from whom it was purloined. 

 Pursuing my walk towards the houses, I heard the note of some 

 Guinea-fowls ; not the ' come-back ' cry, but the ' click-click ' 



