40 The Coming of the Birds 



much the same game of hide-and-seek among the 

 stream-side vegetation, and pour out a still more 

 restless and persistent song, with the same hint of 

 sparrowlike abusiveness. But the flags and valerian 

 and willow-herb spring more slowly than the nettles 

 and red robin of the roadsides, and sedge-warblers 

 do not begin to nest till well into May. This pro- 

 longed idleness emphasizes the irresponsible va- 

 grancy which stamps the sedge-warblers' habits and 

 method of song; many weeks pass, and still the 

 restless reddish birds are chiding and chattering 

 among the flags and willows, with none of that 

 anxious concentration on a single spot which is dis- 

 played by nesting pairs. They seem attached to 

 every clump of willows and dry flags in turn, until 

 they are disturbed from it ; then they transfer their 

 babble in elusive mockery to the depths of the next 

 dry belt of sedge. 



Sedge-warblers sing persistently from April till 

 July, or even August, and whitethroats at least until 

 mid-June. Their voices are almost as omnipresent 

 in leafy places as those of the song-thrush and black- 

 bird and chaffinch, which are at the height of their 

 song when the summer birds arrive. It is one of the 

 chief interests of April to listen for the more fugitive 

 voices. These belong to migrants which fall silent 

 soon after their arrival, or pass on, with a snatch of 

 song during their brief halts, to nesting- grounds 

 further afield. The song of the wheatears is soon 

 over; and whinchats have a similar but much 

 scantier song, which is heard most frequently in 

 April or early May. Both these birds haunt bare 



