REED WARBLER. 297 
stems, and was taken froma bed of reeds on the side of 
the Thames, the surface soil of which was covered by 
water every tide, or twice in each twenty-four hours. 
The nest is formed of the seed-branches of the reeds and 
very long grass, wound horizontally round and round, in- 
cluding the four upright reeds in the substance; thus 
forming, with a little wool, the sides of the nest, which 
frequently measures five inches in depth on the outside, 
three inches in breadth across the top, and very frequently 
three inches deep inside ; the lining is formed of very fine 
grass and long hairs. The nest is made so deep that the 
eggs do not roll out when the supporting reeds are waved 
by the wind; and Montagu observes, that he has seen the 
bird sitting on her nest when every gust forced it almost 
to the surface of the water. 
Among the various nests sent me by Mr. J. D. Salmon, 
was a very beautifully constructed one of this bird, as de- 
scribed to have been found amongst the reeds adjoining the 
river near Euston Bridge; which nest contained four eggs 
on the 30th of June 1834. This bird sometimes lays five 
eggs, which are of a greenish white colour, spotted and 
freckled with ash-green and light brown; the length nine 
lines, by six lines and a half m breadth. The young are 
hatched in July, and quit the nest very soon, hanging and 
climbing with perfect security among the reeds by their 
very sharp claws. 
The Reed Warbler is found in Essex, Surrey, and Kent, 
within a few miles of London; it is found also in Suffolk, 
about Sudbury. In Norfolk, one locality has been men- 
tioned ; and the large fresh waters called the Broads, near 
Yarmouth, with their numerous islands, reeds, and rank 
aquatic herbage, are very likely situations to harbour it. 
Mr. Selby mentions that he had not observed this bird 
