BIRDS 



24. Marsh - Warbler. Acrocephalus palustris 



(Bechstein). 



A bird, which has subsequently proved to 

 be the marsh-warbler, was known to visit the 

 valley of the Avon in the counties of War- 

 wick, Gloucester and Worcester, as a summer 

 migrant more than thirty years since. The 

 first one observed frequented some very high 

 beans by the side of the Avon at Welford, 

 about five miles down stream from Stratford. 

 Others were subsequently heard and seen, but 

 it was not until the summer of 1887 that the 

 species was satisfactorily determined, when two 

 were shot by the author, whose attention was 

 called to them by their unmistakable song and 

 by their particular movements. Since that time 

 others have been noted. In 1888 four were 

 heard, all in the same neighbourhood, namely, 

 in the valley of the Avon, near Littleton. 

 After that date others were noted, and in the 

 middle of June, 1892, a pair were seen by 

 the author in some rank herbage in the bottom 

 of a deserted stone quarry, when on search 

 being made a nest was found suspended be- 

 tween the stems of some nettles. But an 

 animal of some kind had apparently rushed 

 through the nettles and pushed the nest aside 

 so that it could no longer be made use of. 

 It contained one egg. Another nest was 

 speedily constructed near the spot, and was 

 found to be suspended between the stems of 

 some umbelliferous plants. The pair of birds 

 were watched going to and from the nest 

 until four eggs were laid, which with the 

 one in the first nest made up the full number, 

 and after an interval of a few days, during 

 which no more eggs were laid, both nests 

 with the eggs were taken. 



Since the date above mentioned, the marsh- 

 warbler has been repeatedly heard in the same 

 neighbourhood, and no doubt remains that it 

 is a regular summer visitor with us, though 

 not in any considerable numbers. It is a 

 thorough mimic and has been heard to imitate 

 the notes of the skylark, swallow, sparrow, 

 chaffinch, blackbird, thrush, starling, partridge, 

 and some others, which are mixed and blended 

 with its own notes into a low but very sweet 

 song. The precise spots chosen by the 

 marsh-warbler are such as are frequented by 

 the common whitethroat and the sedge- 

 warbler, but it has not been heard in the 

 reed beds of the Avon. 



25. Sedge- Warbler. Acrocephalus phragmitis 



(Bechstein). 



A common bird all through the summer, 

 and its chattering song may be heard in every 

 hedge, and almost every bush. The place 



chosen for the nest corresponds with that 

 selected by the whitethroat. 



26. Grasshopper-Warbler. Locustella navia 



(Boddaert). 

 Although the grasshopper-warbler cannot 

 be said to be a rare bird in Worcestershire, it 

 is by no means abundant, and is very local, 

 being more frequently heard in the western 

 part of the county than in the north or the 

 eastern side. It occasionally haunts corn, 

 more especially barley-fields, in which there 

 is little doubt it sometimes breeds. The 

 few nests the writer has seen were all placed 

 directly on the ground ; one of them on a 

 steep grassy hedge bank, and three others 

 in a field of Italian rye-grass. The latter 

 were all exposed at the same time by the 

 scythe in a field near the Avon. By ap- 

 proaching cautiously the parent bird could be 

 seen upon the nest, which had then nothing 

 to hide it, and would creep off out of sight, 

 having more the appearance of a mouse than 

 a bird. All the three nests were made of 

 the withered leaves of the rye-grass, and the 

 lining was of the same but of finer leaves. 



[Savi's Warbler. Locustella lusctnioides {Ss-vi). 



The present species is included by Mr. 

 Willis Bund in his list of Worcestershire 

 birds, and also in the list of the county of 

 Salop. A small bird having the size and 

 colour of Savi's warbler has been seen several 

 times during the summer in an osier bed in 

 the Avon, a few miles up stream from Eve- 

 sham. On the first occasion it was seen both 

 by the author and his brother, and in the 

 following year by his brother, near the same 

 spot. The habit of these birds was to creep 

 up an osier quite to the top, and then take a 

 short flutter upwards and float down on open 

 wings somewhat as a tree-pipit does from the 

 top of a bush or tree. The short flights were 

 often repeated, but there was no song of any 

 kind.] 



27. Hedge - Sparrow. Accentor modularis 



(Linn.). 

 It is unnecessary to dwell upon this very 

 common resident which may be seen every 

 day about our dwellings. 



28. Alpine Accentor. Accentor collaris (Sco- 



poll). 

 An alpine accentor was shot several years 

 since near the village of Ettington, a few 

 miles from Stratford-on-Avon, and is still pre- 

 served in a case of local birds. As Ettington 

 lies almost on the line of division between the 

 counties of Warwick and Worcester, the bird 



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