i8 4 BIRD-HUNTING 



the birds and the wet, rotting weeds of which the 

 nests were composed, and with which the eggs 

 were also covered. 



Here I also heard for the first time in my ex- 

 perience the curious, reeling note of Savi's Warbler 

 (Locustella luscinioides), which vanished from our 

 Eastern counties more than fifty years ago, owing 

 to the drainage and reclamation of the fens. It was 

 in all probability never an abundant species with us, 

 or it would not have disappeared so utterly and 

 completely as it has done, for after all there are 

 still remaining plenty of suitable and extensive reed- 

 beds in Norfolk and elsewhere. It nests here more 

 or less abundantly, but at this late date it was quite 

 useless to expect to find eggs. 



Larus ridibundus, the Black-headed Gull, was 

 common, but I only picked out one clutch of well- 

 marked eggs for the sake of having some from this 

 locality. 



Of the Pochard {Anas ferind) we found several 

 nests. One of them held nine eggs, but another 

 had evidently been recently discovered and looted 

 by that incorrigible egg-sucker, the Marsh Harrier 

 {Circus ceruginosus). This fine-looking bird may 

 be seen constantly all over Europe. At any rate 

 wherever I have been I have always met with it 

 frequently, gliding along with easy and buoyant 

 flight over marsh and reed-bed and open country, 



