158 BRITISH BIRDS. 



" The song of the Marsh- Warbler once heard will never be 

 forgotten ; it cannot be mistaken for that of any other 

 Acrocephaline bird I have ever heard. The bird is to a certain 

 extent a mimic, and introduces into its song a few bars of 

 those of the Nightingale, Linnet and Sedge- Warbler, connecting 

 them with its own notes, but the song is always the same, 

 the bars from the songs of other birds being always the 

 same, and in the same order. I should not have regarded it as 

 being altogether a mimicking song but that Mr. H. Eliot 

 Howard assures me that in other districts, especially abroad 

 where he has studied the bird, the song is composed of portions 

 of those of other birds of that district ; but he confirms my 

 observation that the order of the song is always the same. 



" To my eyes the Marsh- Warbler could not easily be 

 mistaken for the Reed- Warbler. The under-side of the two 

 birds I saw was of a clear and very pale yellow which would 

 perhaps fade after death and render it somewhat difficult to 

 distinguish from the skin of a Reed- Warbler. I have never 

 examined a skin, but in life the Marsh- could never be 

 mistaken for the Reed- Warbler, as it is thicker in build and 

 as bold and lively as a Sedge- Warbler. It lacks the slender 

 form and mouse-like creeping habits of the Reed- Warbler. 



" At the base of the old pear-tree where I heard the 

 male bird singing was a clump of stinging nettles and 

 cow-parsnips, and in the middle of these I found the 

 beautifully constructed nest containing five eggs, which had 

 been incubated about four days. The nest was attached 

 to the forked stems of the cow-parsnip and two nettles. 

 Mr. H. Eliot Howard says that the nest is a typical one, as 

 also are the eggs. The nest is very deep, and answers 

 perfectly to some published descriptions. Both nest and eggs 

 are so very distinctive that they are easily recognisable and 

 could not be mistaken for those of any other bird I know. 



" After the birds had found that their nesting site had been 

 discovered their bold manner entirely changed, and they 

 became quiet and exceedingly wary and skulking." 



[Mr. Coburn is in error in supposing that the Marsh- Warbler 

 has previously escaped notice in the Midland counties, as the 

 following extract by the late R. F. Tomes, in the "Victoria 

 History of the County of Worcester," Vol. I., p. 147 (1901), will 

 show: — ' A bird, which has subsequently proved to be the 

 Marsh- Warbler, was known to visit the valley of the Avon 

 in the counties of Warwick, 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 



