70 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



charming spots round Twyford the triangular meadow at the end of the 

 ruined wall. The place is a veritable bird paradise, and, indeed, within two 

 hundred yards of its centre I have observed every species of bird that is to 

 be met with in the meadows, save only the Green Sandpiper a very rare 

 visitant, which I have seen once beside the river, on the far side of the 

 village. It is no wonder that the spot is such a favoured one. Surrounded 

 on every side by water, the base is fringed with an osier bed, the natural 

 domain of numerous Reed and Sedge-Warblers; and in the same shelter 

 the Reed-Bunting also builds her nest. 



Seated on a convenient stile, I have often looked in vain for the Marsh- 

 Warbler, not without some faint hopes, too, of an Aquatic, but so far I 

 have never had reason to suspect the presence of either bird. Once, at least, 

 has this osier bed re-echoed the "chirring" note of the Grasshopper- Warbler, 

 and on another occasion I followed the bird some distance along a neigh- 

 bouring hedge, and noted especially the mouse-like creeping so often referred 

 to in the books. The bird appeared much less rufous than the other 

 Warblers dark, but bright yellow olive, I should have called it, while a 

 further means of identification was the absence of any distinct stripe above 

 the eye. I have also met the Grasshopper- Warbler twice much nearer 

 Winchester, and again near the large river beyond Twyford ; and I believe 

 that it breeds, though sparingly, in some of the dense undergrowth with 

 which these meadows abound. I once had the chance of watching this 

 Warbler's vocal efforts from a few yards off with glasses, and it was a 

 strange sight indeed. The mandibles were kept wide open and motionless, 

 the tongue appeared to be motionless also, though it may have been moving 

 too quickly for the eye to follow. The " chirr " was very faint to begin with, 

 and seemed to start in the pit of the stomach and to increase in volume as 

 it worked upwards. It struck me that this comparatively sudden change 

 from a low note to a loud one may perhaps have given rise to the oft-stated 

 theory that the bird is possessed of ventriloquial powers. 



At the back of -the osier bed runs the river, and a small waterfall hard 

 by is a great place for all the common Wagtails, and more than once I have 

 seen a Sandpiper running nimbly about on the mass of decaying water- 

 plants which is usually floating at its foot. On the banks of the two streams 

 which bound the other sides of the meadow there is a fine combination of 

 trees and bushes. The former can nearly always produce a Creeper and 

 some Flycatchers, and not seldom a Wryneck or Nuthatch, while the Green 

 and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers have been known to visit them at times, 

 and once in winter I came upon a Great Grey Shrike. Rarely is the note 



