THE SEDGE WARBLER. 85 



bier has of occasionally nesting at a distance 

 from water is now probably well known to 

 - ornithologists. It was noticed by Mr. R. Mit- 

 ford in the " Zoologist " for 1864 (p. 9109), and 

 subsequently by the writer, in " The Birds of 

 Middlesex," 1866 (p. 47), and by the author 

 of "The Birds of Berks and Bucks," 1868 

 (p. 81). Mr. B. Hamilton Booth, of Malton, 

 Yorkshire, communicated the fact of his having 

 discovered a nest of the Reed Warbler in a yew 

 tree, built so as to include three or four twigs 

 as if they were reeds, and placed at a height of 

 at least twelve or fourteen feet from the ground. 

 He accounted for the nest being built at such a 

 height, and in a tree, on the supposition that the 

 first nest had been destroyed by the rats which 

 infest the place, and the birds had taken a pre- 

 caution for future safety. 



