354 INSECTIVOILE. 







The parts immediately adjoining are deep brown ; the chin 

 and throat are dull white, which passes into dull brownish- 

 yellow on the breast, and becomes paler again towards the 

 belly and vent ; but, with the exception of the streak over 

 the eye, the colours are all softened into each other. The 

 bill is dusky at the tip and on the upper part, and whitish 

 at the base on the under ; feet dusky brown, and the claw 

 on the hinder toe rather short, but hooked. 



The sedge warbler arrives in England about the middle of 

 April, and silently, but in considerable numbers, takes pos- 

 session of the sedgy and reedy banks of streams and pools, 

 of osier holts, and of shrubs and bushes on the edges of 

 marshes and moist places. It does not inhabit the very 

 high grounds, but it appears throughout the whole range of 

 England, and partially, though perhaps only as a straggler, 

 in the southern parts of Scotland. 



It is not a loud songster, but it is a very constant one ; 

 and though it sings best in the morning and towards night, 

 it may be heard at most times of the day, and not unfre- 

 quently during the night. Its song is hurried, but varied, 

 not so much in the single stave, as in its having several of 

 them, which would lead one to imagine that there are dif- 

 ferent birds : they have been compared to the notes of various 

 other birds, but the resemblance is not close. It sings in 

 the throat, and gives a sort of guttural twist to all that it 

 utters. It sings from within the reeds or the bush, from the 

 top of it, or when it is leaping from one bush to another. 



The mode of building depends something upon the lo- 

 cality : if among reeds, it is united to two or three of these ; 

 if in a holt, where the young osiers do not afford convenient 

 forks, it is on the side of some stool that stands above the 

 flooding of the place ; if in a bush, it is placed in the centre ; 

 and if the only cover for the bird be rushes, the nest is 

 placed in the centre of a tuft. The materials are vegetable 



