SEDGE-WARBLER 81 



restless little yellowish brown figure appears for a moment or two 

 near the top of a bush, and then vanishes again. 



The song is curious, and delivered in a curious manner, with 

 hurry and vehemence ; and this, as well as the character of the 

 sounds emitted, gives the idea that the bird is excited to anger that 

 he is scolding at, rather than singing to, the listener. The opening 

 note, hurriedly repeated several times, and recurring at short 

 intervals as long as the song lasts (its keynote and refrain), 

 resembles the chiding note of the whitethroat when its nest is 

 approached, but is louder and more strident. It is the loudest sound 

 the sedge- warbler emits, and when the song is heard at a distance 

 of fifty or sixty yards it seems all composed of chiding notes. But 

 on a nearer approach and the bird will allow the listener to get 

 quite close to it the performance is found to be a very varied one. 

 Listening to it, one finds it hard not to believe that this warbler 

 possesses the faculty it has often been credited with, of mocking 

 other species. But if he indeed has such a talent, he reproduces 

 not so much the songs of other birds as the notes and chirps and 

 small cries of anxiety and alarm the various sounds emitted by 

 singing-birds in the presence of danger to their young or incubated 

 eggs. Thus, in the medley of hurried and strongly contrasted 

 sounds that come in a continuous stream from the sedge- warbler 

 one seems to recognise the low girding of the nightingale, and the 

 different notes of solicitude of the sparrow, reed-bunting, and 

 chaffinch, of the wren and the willow- wren, the meadow-pipit and 

 pied wagtail. But whether these various sounds are really borrowed 

 or not one can never feel sure. 



The sedge-warbler is a very persistent singer. Some birds are 

 too chary of their strains ; but of this waterside music any person 

 may have as much as he likes in May and June. Singing is ap- 

 parently as little tiring to this bird as rushing through the air is to 

 the swift. At the season of his greatest vigour he appears to pour 

 out his rapid notes almost automatically ; and when silent, a stone 

 or stick flung into his haunts will provoke a fresh outburst of melody. 

 He also sings a great deal at night in the love season. 



The sedge-warbler makes its nest among the tangled vegetation 

 at the waterside ; as a rule it is placed near the ground, and is 

 composed outwardly of moss, leaves, and aquatic grasses, and lined 

 with fine grass and hair. The eggs are five, of a dirty white or pale 

 brownish ground-colour, with yellowish brown spots, sometimes with 

 hairlike marks among the spots. 



