The Marsh-Warbler. "S 



noting that tlie few nests of this species which have been so far found in England, 

 have been usually suspended in meadow-sweet ; and also that they have never, so 

 far as I know, been found immediately over water, but at a little distance from 

 it, and not very far from cultivated ground. We took one egg only, and after 

 some further search returned to the village, and went on our way to Meiringen, 

 where we were to sleep that night." 



I do not doubt that the usual habit of the Marsh- Warbler is, to build its 

 nest above moist ground and not over water ; but to anyone who has nested year 

 after year for any considerable period, the fact that there is no rule without 

 exceptions is found to be especially true in relation to nesting sites. It is most 

 unusual for a Spotted Flycatcher to build in a hole in a wall, and for a Wren to 

 form its domed nest in a box, yet I have obtained the former and my friend Frohawk 

 the latter. That the Marsh- Warbler therefore should occasionally follow the habit 

 of its very close relation the Reed- Warbler, is no more than might be expected. 

 The food of the Marsh- Warbler consists largely of insects and spiders, but it 

 also eats elderberries and small fruits in their season. 



The Marsh- Warbler is said to reach its breeding-grounds about the middle 

 of May, and to leave them late in August. Herr Gatke, speaking of it in Heligo- 

 land, says : — "This species * * * was in former years met with far more frequently 

 in Heligoland than is the case now. As regards numbers, too, it was far better 

 represented than the preceding species (the Reed- Warbler) — a relation which 

 obtains even at the present day in regard to the few individuals still visiting the 

 island." 



" Further, before the period under consideration, the spring and summer 

 months were almost invariably fine and warm, with a prevalence of south-easterly 

 winds, so that in April and May of almost every year the island used to teem 

 with SylvicE and other small birds ; indeed there were many days on which one 

 might have been able to secure more than a hundred Bluethroats (Sylvia suecica), 

 and some twenty or more examples of 5. hypolais and 5. palustris. Since then, on 

 the other hand, our spring and summer is almost always cold, with raw and dry 

 winds from the north, and the number of these Sylvite, and of other both smaller 

 and larger species which put in an appearance at these seasons, has dwindled to 

 the slenderest proportions, so that now the two last named species are seen perhaps 

 not more than twice or three times in the course of a spring migration." 



Although I have not heard of this species having been exhibited as a cage- 

 bird in England, it is recorded among the species sent to the sixth exhibition of 

 the "Ornis" Society in Berlin. Mathias Rausch, in the " Gefiederte Welt" for 

 1891, in an exhaustive article on the European Song-birds, states that this bird 



