THE EEED WARBLER. 355 



fibres and moss, with occasionally a few hairs, if the locality 

 can supply them, which is not often, so that the chief lining 

 is fine fibres of dry grass or roots. The eggs are five or six 

 in number, of a light dull brown, mottled with darker spots 

 of the same. 



So far as has been observed, its food consists chiefly of 

 those winged insects which frequent humid and watery places, 

 which it captures by leaping from its perch ; but it probably 

 also picks up larvae from the leaves, although its feet are 

 not so well adapted for giving it command of itself upon 

 very flexible ones, as those of the next species. 



THE REED WARBLER (Cwruca arundinaceo). 



A figure of one third of the lineal dimensions is given on 

 the plate at page 354, by which the bird can be readily distin^ 

 guished from the sedge warbler. The upper part is brighter 

 and more uniformly brown, and the under part more inclined 

 to yellow. The streak on the cheek is obscure, and extends 

 only to the eye. 



This bird, which has sometimes been called the reed-wren, 

 comes rather later than the other, and is more confined to 

 the southern parts of England. It is also more exclusively 

 an inhabitant of reedy places, at least in the breeding time ; 

 for it is a more active bird than the other, and sometimes 

 approaches houses before its final departure. 



The nest, which is always fastened to reeds, flexible up- 

 right twigs, or upright stems of some kind, is constructed of 

 vegetable matters, well united together, and very deep, so 

 that it can bear to be rocked upon its bending supports 

 without ejecting the bird or the eggs. The eggs are four 

 or five in number, but they are easily distinguished by their 

 colour from those of the sedge warbler, even though the 

 nests should be found in similar situations. The egg of the 

 sedge warbler is smaller than that of the reed warbler, and 



2 A 2 



