AQUATIC WARBLERS. 353 



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AQUATIC WARBLERS. 



Of these there are two; the sedge warbler and the reed 

 warbler : they are little birds, and summer birds only. 



Their general appearances are : the forehead low ; the 

 body long and slender ; the tail strong and wedge-shaped ; 

 and the prevailing colours brown above, and yellowish-white 

 on the under part, without strong contrasts in any part of 

 their plumage. While they reside in Britain, they frequent 

 the reedy or sedgy banks of stagnant pools and slow-running 

 rivers, or the bushes and brakes in the vicinity of such places. 

 They do not range far from their nestling places, neither 

 does it appear that they flock previous to their departure in 

 the autumn. 



THE SEDGE WARBLER ( Curruca pJiragmitis). 



The sedge warbler is called also the sedge bird and the 

 sedge wren ; but it has no other resemblance to the wrens, 

 properly so called, than being about the same weight as the 

 common wren. It is about five inches and a half long, rather 

 more than seven in the extent of the wings ; the head 

 slender, the bill pointed, and the tail wedge or lancet-shaped : 

 the whole well fitted for gliding between the tall aquatic 

 plants, among which it chiefly resides and finds its food. 



The colours are sober ; brown on the upper part, with a 

 slight tinge of olive ; the quills and tail darker, and the 

 edges of the feathers relieved with rusty. The side of the 

 head is peculiarly marked, and is an easy means of distin- 

 guishing the sedge warbler from the other small birds which 

 haunt similar places : a white streak proceeds from the line 

 of the upper mandible over the eye, and a pale brownish one 

 from the eye a short way down towards the side of the neck, 

 so that the two have a faint resemblance to the letter Y, 

 with the bottom above the gape, and the fork at the eye. 



VOL, i. 2 A 



