IV The Marsh Warbler 89 



love best; and if ornithologists would give closer 

 attention to such places, and boldly plunge into 

 them, regardless of heat, insects, damp, and snakes, 

 they might oftener come across a bird of which so 

 little is still known in England. 



That day I did not attempt much, but waited 

 until I could begin a patient watch. I noted that 

 the railway embankment — always a blessing to the 

 naturalist — would answer my purpose admirably. 

 On the 21st I established myself under an umbrella 

 on this flowery bank, and in less than half an hour 

 was able to make a fair guess at the position of the 

 nest. More than once I saw my bird dive into the 

 willows at a point where they were but half-grown, 

 and where search would not be very arduous. Like 

 a Kingfisher swooping from his perch, I descended 

 into the osiers, and there, ten yards from the hedge, 

 I found a nest slung between young saplings as it 

 were by four or five handles ; for the twigs were not 

 worked through the whole structure, but only through 

 the rim of it. It was nearly three feet from the 

 ground, and, like all nests of this species that I have 

 seen, conspicuous enough when you have come upon 

 it, though hidden in a mass of stalks. There were 

 no eggs in it, and as I could see daylight through 

 the dry grasses of which it was chiefly composed, I 

 concluded that it was still unfinished. 



In a day or two a good deal of moss had been 



