SYLVAN WARBLERS. 357 



hacks and clamps of bricks, as a protection from rain, and 

 also from wind, which would make the clamp burn unequally : 

 and thus the reeds are cherished as a crop. The warbler 

 does not come till the reeds are considerably advanced, and 

 it departs before they are cut ; so that it dwells in peace, 

 and especially in the mornings about the end of May and 

 the beginning of June it may be observed with the greatest 

 ease. 



SYLVAN WARBLERS. 



These excel the tenants of the marsh in their size and the 

 power and melody of their songs, as much as the forest and 

 the grove, from which the majority of them sing, rise above 

 the brakes and beds of reeds. They are not equal to many 

 other birds in the brightness of their colours or the liveliness 

 of their motions ; but there is a softness in their plumage, 

 and a gentleness in their expression, which at once distin- 

 guish them from the resident birds, which they resemble the 

 most in shape and colour. 



With the deductions that have been made in the birds 

 that have been described, there are about nine species of 

 warblers. They are all summer visitants, nestling with us, 

 and being consequently native birds. They are also fre- 

 quenters of the warm and rich lands, more numerous on the 

 southern part of the island, and the greater part rarely or only 

 occasionally straggling into Scotland, and seldom found in the 

 more mountainous parts. The only one which has a name 

 in the original language of the Scotch Highlands, is the 

 red-start. Some prefer the close forest ; others the copse ; 

 others, again, the hedges ; and others still, the wild bush : 

 though of those that sing and seek their food in thick trees, 

 there are some that nestle on the ground, but always in 

 shady places, or otherwise under cover. 



Their general characters are the bill more slender, and 



