GREAT REED-WARBLER. 363 



and although it is able^ on its winter migration, to reach as far south as 

 the Transvaal, and even Natal, for some reason or other it objects to cross 

 both the English Channel and the Baltic. We are therefore obliged to 

 visit the continent to make the acquaintance of this charming bird ; but 

 long before the steamer reaches Rotterdam the ornithologist who crosses 

 over late in May will hear its loud, if not very musical, song in the reeds 

 on the banks of the river, and, before he has become familiar with the 

 note, may possibly mistake it for the croaking of frogs as he hears it 

 for the first time amidst the splashing of water and the muffled jar of the 

 engine. 



Early in May, when many of the commoner summer migrants whose 

 range extends also to our islands are busily engaged in the duties of incu- 

 bation, a few of the most adventurous Great Reed-Warblers arrive at their 

 breeding-grounds ; towards tlie middle of the month they are tolerably 

 common, and begin to make preparations for building ; biit it is vain to 

 look for eggs before the last week in May. One reason for their late 

 migration may possibly be the fact that the reeds in which they build 

 do not reach maturity earlier ; but probably the more potent cause of delay 

 is connected with the supply of food, as they are not only very late in 

 arriving, but are also very early in departing. Their song ceases about the 

 middle of July ; during August their numbers rapidly diminish ; and early 

 in September you may search the reeds for them in vain. 



When the Great Reed- Warbler first arrives at its breeding-quarters it 

 may occasionally be seen in the willows and other bushes which are often 

 found in the marshes near the reed-beds; but usually it is only seen in 

 the reeds. Its loud song causes its presence to be at once detected ; and 

 with a little caution there is no difficulty in obtaining a sight of the bird. 

 In May, last year, I saw a great deal of this bird as I strolled amongst the 

 twenty-two ponds in the grounds of the old Cistercian Monastery at Rid- 

 dagshausen, near Brunswick, now converted into the residence of my friend 

 Oberamtmann Nehrkorn. Many of these ponds are full of reeds, and are 

 frequented by great numbers of these birds. On the 16th of May I stood 

 for some time under a pollard willow not five yards from a Great Reed- 

 Warbler, listening to his harsh croaking as he sat unconcerned on one of 

 the branches. When finally I frightened him away to see what he would 

 do, he did not plunge into the reeds, which, by the way, were not yet full- 

 grown, but he flew over them to a willow bush, where, conspicuously 

 perched near the top of a perpendicular branch, he resumed his song. 

 Four days later I found his nest ; and on the 22nd it contained one egg. 

 Both birds were in the reeds close by, and flew angrily at me as I bent 

 down the reeds to peep in, croaking at me like a couple of frogs. Later 

 on, in Pomerania, on the 5th of June, in the reed-beds in the Garde 

 See, the Great Reed- Warbler was equally common. Now and then we 



