A. MOCKING BIKD. 35 



behind the Museum, nearly half a mile from the river, and 

 probably built a nest among the lilac-bushes which there abound. 

 But that year they seemed to be more abundant than usual ; 

 and this, perhaps, was one for whom there was no room in the 

 limited space of the reeds at Parsons' Pleasure. Thick bushes, 

 where many lithe saplings spring from a common root, would 

 suit him better than a scanty reed-bed. 



There is no great difficulty in distinguishing Sedge- and 

 Eeed-warblers, if you have an eye for the character of birds. 

 The two are very different in temperament, though both are 

 of the same quiet brown, with whitish breast. The Sedge-bird 

 is a restless, noisy, impudent little creature, not at all modest 

 or retiring, and much given to mocking the voices of other 

 birds. This is done as a rule in the middle of one of his long 

 and continuous outpourings of chatter ; but I one day heard 

 a much more ridiculous display of impertinence. I was standing 

 at the bottom of the Parks, looking at a pair or two of Sedge- 

 warblers on a bush, and wondering whether they were going 

 to build a nest there, when a Blackbird emerged from the 

 thicket behind me, and seeing a human being, set up that 

 absurd cackle that we all know so well. Instantly, out of 

 the bush I was looking at, there came an echo of this cackle, 

 uttered by a small voice in such ludicrous tones of 

 mockery, as fairly to upset my gravity. It seemed to say 

 ' Tou awkward idiot of a bird, I can make that noise as well 

 as you : only listen ! ' — 



The Keed -warbler, on the other hand, is quieter and gentler, 

 and utters, by way of song, a long crooning soliloquy, in accents 



D 2 



