412 THE SEDGE WARBLER. 



stre&k over the eye ; the lower parts brownish white ; the 

 lower tail coverts unspotted ; the female similar, but with the 

 upper part of the head more tinged with brown ; the back of 

 a lighter tint, the rump less bright. The young resemble the 

 adults, but are more tinged with red. 



SWEET'S ACCOUNT. "This pretty little species is very plentiful 

 in the neighbourhood of London, which it visits the beginning of 

 April, and leaves again in September, frequenting the sides of 

 rivers, or any ditches, where there is a thicket of reeds or sedge, 

 in which it builds its nest, and is almost continually in song, both 

 by day and night ; its song consists of a variety of notes, some 

 of which are very loud, and may be heard at a considerable dis- 

 tance, generally beginning with chit, chit, chiddy, chiddy, chiddy, 

 chit, chit, chit. It is readily caught in a Nightingale trap, baited 

 with a living green caterpillar, or a butterfly, as in a wild state 

 it feeds entirely on living insects, almost all sorts of flies, small 

 moths, and butterflies, besides various sorts of caterpillars, and 

 other small insects. It is a very lively bird, and shows scarcely 

 any symptoms of fear, approaching very near to any person who 

 does not drive or frighten it, and it soon becomes very tame and 

 familiar in confinement, where, if well managed, it will sing the 

 greater part of the year. 



" The present species, when first caught, should, if possible, be 

 placed in a large cage or aviary, with some other small birds, and 

 must at first be supplied with some sort of insects ; flies, cater- 



Crs, or maggots, should be put in a little pan, and when the 

 has found them out, and begins to feed on them, some of 

 the bruised hemp- seed and bread, with some bits of raw lean 

 meat mixed up with it, should be placed in the same pan, with 

 some insects stuck in it, that in picking up the insects it might 

 taste the other food, and it will soon take to feed on it freely ; 

 some of the yolk of an egg boiled hard, should also be bruised 

 up, and moistened with water, that it might stick to the insects, 

 which are also to be stuck in it ; when the bird has tasted this, 

 it will eat it readily, as it is particularly partial to egg after once 

 tasting it ; and it does for a change in the winter, instead of in- 

 sects, when very few of them are to be procured. 



" These birds are particularly partial to washing themselves in 

 water, if it be placed in a pan in their cage or aviary ; at some 

 seasons they will wash three or four times in a day ; this will not 

 hurt them in summer, when the weather is warm, but it weakens 

 them very much if they are allowed to wash in the winter ; once 

 a week is often enough at that season, and then the water should 

 be put in the cage in the morning, and after they have washed, it 



