NATURAL HISTORY NOTES IN HOLLAND. 13 
eggs, fixed on the reeds like those of A. streperus, and beautifully 
lined with horse-hair. Sometimes they were right in the middle 
of the beds, and sometimes in more open places. 
We came across two pairs of Savi’s Warbler, Locustella 
luscinoides, but only found the nest of one of these, and it 
contained five young, almost fledged, this being on the 12th June. 
It was beautifully constructed of the broad, flat tops of the reeds, 
very deep and symmetrical, and we brought it away with us, 
removing the young into that of a Sedge Warbler procured for 
the purpose. It was most carefully concealed in a thick bunch of 
grass, close to ths ground, and in a very boggy place, though not 
one affected by the tide, it being on the landward side of the dyke 
bounding the Hollandsch Diep. The old birds were never seen 
near the nest, and then only for a moment, as they flew for a few 
yards over the reed tops, and then popped down again. Their 
“trill” is very distinguishable from that of the Grasshopper 
Warbler, not being (as Mr. Dresser remarks) so continuous, and 
having more tone. I thought of attempting to rear some of the 
young, but on going for them found them gone. The parents, 
no doubt, had removed them, such being the habit of the 
Warblers, if their nest be disturbed, and the young fit. They 
were not able to fly. 
On the 11th June, we watched for a long time a pair of large 
birds with hawk-light flight, which were quartering the marshes 
very assiduously, and whose identity puzzled us a good deal at 
first, but which turned out to be Marsh Harriers, Circus 
eruginosus. We put up one of them from the nest, which was 
only about fifty yards distant from that of the Savi’s Warbler just 
described, and in the same marsh, about ten yards from firm 
ground. The nest was a large heap of reeds and sedges forming 
a flat mass three feet long, and two feet across, and appeared to 
have been used many years, one nest being built on the top of 
another. There were three young, the eldest a week, and the 
youngest a day or two old. They were covered with brownish 
yellow down; cere and legs, yellow; bill and claws, black; iris, 
very dark brown. We brought two of them home, leaving the 
youngest, and on June 20th, the elder of these attacked the other, 
injuring it so much that it died next day. On June 22nd the 
sprouting quills and tail were black, tipped with brown; scapu- 
laries, black; wings from tip to tip, 2 feet 84 inches. June 29th, 
