RBED-WARBLEE. 65 



EEED-WARBLER. 



Acrocephalus streperus. 



This little bird arrives late in April, and as a species is 

 somewhat local. It is seldom found far from water, though 

 the nest has occasionally occurred at some considerable dis- 

 tance from it. Soon after its arrival it betakes itself to the 

 reed-beds of our river banks, or to those ditches, in the 

 marshy levels through which those rivers generally flow for 

 a few miles before reaching the sea ; there it forms its nest 

 among the reeds in such a manner as to be supported by 

 two or three, or three or four, reed-stems carefully woven 

 into its structure, and as the reeds are constantly swayed 

 to and fro by the winds, it is constructed of unusual 

 depth, by which the eggs are not liable to be thrown out. 



The Cuckoo very frequently selects the Reed- Warbler as 

 a foster-mother to its young. 



Its food consists of insects and small moUusca. It is 

 rather silent during the day, only occasionally uttering a 

 sort of chatter, but after sunset it suddenly breaks out into 

 song and continues singing incessantly throughout the 

 night. 



It may be met with in suitable spots about most of the 

 large reed-fringed ponds in the county, particularly some of 

 those in St. Leonard's Forest, and had at one time a favourite 

 haunt on the Salts Farm, not far west of the old bridge at 

 Shoreham, over the Adur, but on the opening of the railway 

 the birds forsook the place. It is still abundant on the 

 banks of the Arun, from Burpham to Amberley, though 

 about the latter place it is becoming less numerous owing to 

 the draining of the marshes. 



