REED WARBLER. 33 



and like it, it often sings at night-time. Indeed there 

 is no doubt that people have sometimes mistaken it 

 for the Nightingale, so similar are some of its notes. 

 In marshy districts, down by the river banks, in 

 amongst the rushes that fill the meadow dykes, these 

 are the places where we must expect to meet the Reed 

 Warbler. Its nest is one of the most beautiful we 

 have. Laced in around three or four reeds, some two 

 or three feet off the water, " like a stocking in the 

 process of knitting hanging among its many pins," * it 

 sways gracefully to and fro with the green blades, as 

 every puff bends down their tops. It is a very deep 

 nest for its size, and this is one of the provisions of 

 Nature for the protection of the eggs and young, 

 which would assuredly roll out but for this, since the 

 nest is sometimes bent down by the wind nearly to the 

 level of the water. But this is not the only site which 

 the Reed Warbler chooses for its nest. Sometimes 

 it is placed in a bush near the water, and sometimes 

 it is twined round the young shoots of a willow. Three 

 nests were taken by us in 1894 on the banks of the 

 Test in Hampshire all in this position, one of which 

 contained an egg of the Cuckoo ; and another, found 

 a few days later, close to the same spot, contained a 

 young bird of the same species, which suggests the 

 probability of both eggs having been laid by the same 

 Cuckoo. The nests are built of grass, and lined with 

 a little hair and wool. The eggs, four or five, are 

 greenish white, spotted and freckled with ash green 

 and light brown. One clutch in my possession bears 

 a great resemblance to the eggs of the Whitethroat. 

 The Reed Warbler is a cageable bird, but is more 

 delicate to rear than the Sedge Warbler. 

 * Meyer, vol. ii., p. 92. 



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