142 BRITISH BIRDS. 



sides tinged with brown: the belly the same, but 

 much lighter, the middle almost approaching to a 

 silvery white. The legs and toes appear to have 

 been of a brownish yellow. The stuffed speci- 

 men from which the above figure was made, was 

 obligingly presented by Air. Yarrell to the New- 

 castle Museum, in 1827. 



This shy and solitary bird is seldom seen, as it 

 keeps itself during the day mostly hidden among 

 the coarse herbage, or the reeds and rushes which 

 grow by the rills that ooze out of the moist or 

 boggy grounds which it generally frequents. The 

 author never but once saw what he believes to 

 have been this bird, nor ever heard its song; but 

 this last has been well described to. him by others 

 whose business led them to be out at the break 

 of day. These, though unlearned naturalists, w r ere 

 keen observers, and the wild quadrupeds and birds 

 in their neighbourhood did not escape notice, and 

 among others this bird and its charming song. 

 Their report was, that they never hea-rd it sing 

 except in the twilight of a summer's morning; 

 but others are said to have heard it at the close 

 of the evening. 



From its being so seldom heard, it is believed 

 that it does not visit this country every year. 

 There can be little doubt that it is the very bird 

 whose song has sometimes been mistaken in the 

 north of England for that of the Nightingale. 



Latham, who seems not to have known much 

 about it, says it builds its nest among reeds, sup- 

 ported by three of their branches : it is of a downy 

 texture; the eggs, five in number, are of a pale 

 yellowish brown, speckled with minute spots. 



