vo. x1.} FIELD NOTES ON MARSH-WARBLER. 248 
It is difficult to obtain a good view of the Marsh-Warbler 
samidst the dense foliage, but its presence can always be 
detected by the powerful and melodious song which it pours 
forth incessantly. The song is varied and richer in tone 
than the song of the Reed and Sedge-Warblers, with a mixture 
of notes somewhat resembling the Nightingale and Blackbird, 
but it also includes the characteristic jarring and chirping 
notes common to birds of its genus. It undoubtedly 
imitates the notes of some of the other warblers, and 
incorporates them in its song. In the early morning and in 
the evening, when heavy mists are hanging over the ground, 
it is often heard singing particularly vigorously. 
In the field, apart from its unmistakable song, the Marsh- 
Warbler is difficult to distinguith from the Reed-Warbler, 
_ and also, at any distance, from the Sedge-Warbler, both of 
_which birds are often found on the same ground. If one 
is fortunate enough to obtain a clear view of the bird at close 
quarters, especially through good binoculars, the Marsh- 
Warbler appears greenish olive-brown above, and the white 
breast merges at the flanks into the faintest sulphur-buff. 
The pale, almost flesh coloured legs and feet also form a 
useful distinguishing mark. 
The Marsh-Warbler is one of the latest birds to commence 
nesting, seldom beginning to build before June. The nest 
is usually built about two feet from the ground, and is always 
suspended from two or more stems of tall weeds or sapling 
shoots of young trees, usually willows, and is placed amidst 
dense straight-growing vegetation. It is never built over 
water. 
One nest was suspended from a sapling elm and the stem of 
a nettle, two feet from the ground, and within a few yards 
of a much frequented footpath, surrounded, however, by dense 
foliage, and within a hundred yards of a river. “This nest 
was constructed, as usual, of flat blades and round stalks 
of grasses welded together with bits of wool and hair, and lined 
with hair. The nest was fairly deep, but not so cylindrical 
in shape or so compact as that of the Reed-Warbler, being 
looser in texture and less neatly woven and finished off. 
The male bird was singing incessantly within thirty yards 
of the nest. A second nest was suspended from three sapling 
shoots of willow, close to the edge of a small osier-bed, and 
some 150 yards or so from the river. Another very beautiful 
nest was built in the very corner of a withy-bed only twenty-five 
yards from a cottage, and was suspended from the stems of a 
nettle, the dead stem of a last year’s dock and a willow-herb, 
and constructed of grasses welded together with coloured 
