184 NEST OF THE REED WARBLER 



rage. Everyone also knows that the lightest breezes 

 moves the leaves of the reeds, bends their stems and sets 

 the whole wilderness of them in motion, like the water 

 itself. The wisdom of Nature has placed this bird of 

 the reed beds here, and so formed it that it could live 

 nowhere else. Therefore it must build its nest in this 

 unstable-looking spot and can do so in perfect safety ; 

 so that it can lay its eggs, hatch them,, tend the young 

 birds which are at first blind, feed them and bring them 

 up until they are fledged and like their parents. 



It is no small undertaking to build among the bending 

 stems a nest which will afford security in calm weather 

 and also in storm ! If the bird fastened it to one stem, 

 and the wind were to come, the fastenings would soon be 

 torn away, and all destroyed. 



What then does the bird do? It chooses three or four 

 stems at about equal distances standing near to each 

 other. On these it darns and knits its nest in the shape 

 of a high, eastern, fur hat reversed : attaching it also with 

 tough grass to the reed in such a manner that it can give 

 way on the stalk when it waves in the wind, so that the 

 stalk cannot tear the nest. The cup of the nest is deep, 

 narrowing a little at the upper edge to prevent anything 

 falling out when moved by the wind. In this nest the 

 Reed Warbler lays five or six eggs of pale green with 

 darker speckles, which are hatched in fourteen days. It 

 is a perfect work of art. 



The Great Reed Warbler is 8 inches in length, that is, 

 an inch less than a Thrush ; and its form is not unlike that 

 of the Thrush. The upper side is brown, shading into 

 rust colour ; over the eye is a lighter stripe, and round 

 the- ears the plumage is also a lighter colour. The 

 underparts are whitish, tinged on the sides with yellowish 



