p. F. BUN YARD : NESTING OF M ARSH WARBLER. 185 



eggs of the Reed- Warbler, and indeed I have not yet seen 

 well-authenticated eggs of the Marsh- Warbler which could 

 easily be mistaken for the eggs of the Reed- Warbler. 

 The British-taken eggs of A . palustris appear to me rather 

 larger and less pointed than Continental eggs, and it would 

 be interesting to know if others have noticed this. I 

 re-visited this nest about 11 a.m. for the purpose of taking 

 the photograph here reproduced. The bird was sitting, but 

 slid off quietly on my approach, and although I remained 

 in the vicinity of the nest (in the hope of getting a 

 photograph of the bird itself) for nearly two hours, the 

 alarm-note was only uttered once, and the birds were 

 nowhere to be seen. I was disappointed in not seeing 

 and hearing more of the birds, and their extreme shyness 

 and quietness struck me more than anything in con- 

 nection with this interesting experience. 



On the evening of the same date we visited a small 

 osier bed (150 ft. above sea-level) in which some other 

 Marsh- Warblers had been previously located, and after 

 watching for some time we saw the birds continually 

 diving down among the rough growth near a large plant 

 of the cow-parsnip, in which we afterwards found a nest 

 containing five newly-hatched young. This nest was 

 supported by three stems of the plant, and was similar 

 to the one just described. The mouths of the young 

 were of a beautiful rich lemon-yellow, and on the back 

 of the tongue were two conspicuous black spots, placed 

 horizontally. 



